"Yes—how is it, as to rent? How much an acre?"
"'Pon my word, I don't know. When I want money I tell the steward, and the people—the—serfs, I suppose, they are—who hold the plough and manage the land—give him some, and he brings it to me."
"Oh! but you don't know how many years' purchase it's worth?"
To this there was no answer—statistics, at that time, not being a favourite study in France.
"But, marquis," inquired another, "hasn't the King restored you your manorial rights—your droits de seigneur?"
"No, sir."
"Then what's the use of land without them?" was the very pertinent rejoinder.
"What are they, sir?" inquired the marquis.
"Why, if a tenant of yours has a pretty daughter," said one.
"Or a wife," said another.