“Those cow-tracks we've been using cross lots?” said Sophie forcibly.
“Yes. Any one of 'em would cost us two thousand pounds each in legal expenses to close.”
“But we don't want to,” she said.
“The whole community would fight if we did.”
“But it's our land. We can do what we like.”
“It's not our land. We've only paid for it. We belong to it, and it belongs to the people—our people they call 'em. I've been to lunch with the English too.”
They passed slowly from one bracken-dotted field to the next—flushed with pride of ownership, plotting alterations and restorations at each turn; halting in their tracks to argue, spreading apart to embrace two views at once, or closing in to consider one. Couples moved out of their way, but smiling covertly.
“We shall make some bad breaks,” he said at last.
“Together, though. You won't let anyone else in, will you?”
“Except the contractors. This syndicate handles this proposition by its little lone.”