ALL SORTS AND CONDITIONS 127 



saw your face and heard what you had done I 

 thought I should write. I daresay it is * woman's 

 logic ' to connect drawing, a nice face (sic) and 

 the bying of the wood, but perhaps you will under- 

 stand what I mean. The story of the wood is 

 very long, I'll try to make it as short and as easy 

 to understand as I can. We bought an estate 

 3 years ago through the aid of the bank — ^that 

 means that the bank pays part of the money for 

 you, and you have to pay per cent to the bank 

 every year. The only real value of the estate was 

 a very big wood, worth 10,000 pounds or about. 

 The estate belonged to jews. As we could not pay 

 the whole money to the jews, they made my mother 

 sign a paper, where it was said that the wood was 

 their's till she paid the remaining 30 thousand 

 roubles, but allowing her at the same time to sell 

 that same wood in part, or all, to pay them back. 

 That sounded very well, but they immediately 

 began to put the wood down and to send away the 

 people we wanted to sell to. Told them the woods 

 was their's and that they never meant to give it 

 back and so on. This spring we got a gendarme 

 to come, from the Emperor's own chancelerie, and 

 he made them sign that they are forced to give the 

 wood back for 3000 pounds, if we get the money 

 before the first of August (old style) . There is only a 

 month left and we have not sold it yet, the jews 

 promised to go out of the wood, but they are still 

 there and still send our people out. I dont know 

 the prises, but I know my Mother would sell the 

 whole of the wood for 4000; then after giving the 

 jews their 3000 p. we would have 1000 for us and 

 we would be able to pay the per cent to banc for 



