ere
instead? Rye! And for what reason? Simply because old Joseph had sown
rye in that field every year for twenty-one years!" "Does their farm
extend to the other side of the hill?" "No, Charles, it isn't quite such
a fat morsel as all that, like bacon fried in butter and eaten with a
spoon! No, no, the wheat on the top of the hill is mine." "Ah, well,
it's odd how soon one forgets. Then your land comes down as far as
this?" "Yes, Charles; Warnitz is a long narrow estate, it extends from
here on the one side as far as Haunerwiem on the other. Now stand still
for a moment, I can show you the whole lie of the country from this
point. Where we are standing belongs to your brother-in-law, his land
reaches from my wheat-field up there to the right, as far as that small
clump of fir-trees to the left. You see, Rexow is quite a small farm,
there are only a few more acres belonging to it on the other side of the
village. To the right up there is Warnitz; and in front of us, where the
fallow ground begins, is Puempelhagen; and down there to the left, behind
the little clump of firs, is Guerlitz."

"Then Warnitz is the largest!" "No, Charles, you've mistaken me there.
Puempelhagen is the best estate in the neighborhood, the wheat-land there
produces forty-two loads, and that is eight more than Warnitz can show.
It would be a blessing if all the other places were like it. The
_Councillor_ is a good man, and understands farming, but you see his
profession obliges him to live in Schwerin, so he can't attend to
Puempelhagen. He has had a good many bailiffs of one kind or another. He
came into the estate when everything was very dear, and there are a
considerable number of apothecaries[7] on it, so that he must often feel
in want of money, and all the more so that his wife is extravagant, and
likes to live in a constant whirl of gaiety. He is a worthy man and kind
to his people, and although the von Rambows are of very old family--my
master, the Count, often asks him to dinner, and _he_ will not admit any
but members of the nobility to the honor of his acquaintance--he goes
about quite _doucimang_, and makes no fuss about his position."

Hawermann listened attentively to all that was said, for if he succeeded
in getting the place of bailiff, these things would all be of importance
to him, but his thoughts soon returned to the subject of his greatest
present anxiety. "Braesig," he said, "who is the best person to take
charge of my lit