Hillocks laughed aloud, as if the factor had made a successful joke.
“Ye wull hae yir fun, Maister Leslie, but ye ken hoo it maun gae fine. The gude wife an' me were calculating juist by chance, this verra mornin', and we baith settled that we cudna face a new lease comfortable wi' less than a fifty pund reduction, but we micht scrape on wi' forty.”
“You and the wife 'ill hae tae revise yir calculations then, an' a'll see ye again when ye 're reasonable.”
Three weeks later there was another accidental meeting, when the factor and Hillocks discussed the price of fat cattle at length, and then drifted into the lease question before parting.
“Weel, Hillocks, what aboot that rise? will ye manage the fifty, or must we let ye have it at forty?”
“Dinna speak like that, for it 's no jokin' maitter tae me; we micht dae wi' five-and-twenty aff, or even twenty, but a' dinna believe his lordship wud like to see ain o' his auldest tenants squeezed.”
“It's no likely his lordship 'ill take a penny off when he's been expecting a rise; so I 'll just need to put the farm in the Advertiser—'the present tenant not offering '; but I 'll wait a month to let ye think over it.”
When they parted both knew that the rent would be settled, as it was next Friday, on the old terms.
Opinion in the kirkyard was divided over this part of the bargain, a minority speaking of it as a drawn battle, but the majority deciding that Hillocks had wrested at least ten pounds from the factor, which on the tack of nineteen years would come to £190. So far Hillocks had done well, but the serious fighting was still to come.
One June day Hillocks sauntered into the factor's office and spent half an hour in explaining the condition of the turnip “breer” in Drumtochty, and then reminded the factor that he had not specified the improvements that would be granted with the new lease.