Free House That Berry Built by Dornford Yates Page A

Besse. The pipe-line will pass up the road and any owner of property on the mountain called Evergreen will naturally be conceded the right to a branch. The work will be put in hand this autumn.
    I need hardly say that, if I can be of any service in approaching the present owners of any fields which may attract you, I am entirely at your disposal.
    With profound respect, Madame,
     
    Most cordially yours,
    JEAN DE MOULIN.

4
    In Which Three Fields Become Ours,
    and Daphne and Jill Produce a Work of Art
     
    On Sunday, at a quarter past twelve, we showed de Moulin the meadows we hoped to buy.
    We chose that hour, because from twelve till two the peasants are within doors, and we saw no sense in publishing what we proposed to do. Indeed, we were perfectly sure that the lawyer himself was accustomed to lunch at midday, so he and Madame de Moulin were going to share our meal. While Daphne entertained the lady, the rest of us walked with her husband up to the site.
    “Those three fields,” I said, pointing. “The one on the road, the one directly above it, and, again, the one above that.”
    “But that is simple,” said de Moulin, “for the ruisseau (rill) edges all three.” He took out a little notebook and made a rough sketch. “I shall check them tomorrow upon the cadastral plan. And then I will send for the owners.” He pointed to the field by the road. “That is the most valuable, for it is not only more flat, but it lies on the road. I think it belongs to old Coulie; but we shall see.”
    I looked at the elegant meadow that lay to the right – the one that the grotto graced, with the trough at its foot.
    “It would be nice to have that.”
    The lawyer shook his head.
    “Later, Monsieur, later. On no account now. In fact, if you take my advice, you will purchase but two, to begin with, instead of three. You see, the thing is like this. I shall, of course, say that you mean to build a house. Now any one of these fields would very well contain such a house as a peasant would build. That you should need two for one house will make him open his eyes. But that any man could need three, he simply will not believe. ‘Hullo,’ he will say, ‘there is something behind all this. These strangers are speculators.’ And up will go his price, in the hope of sharing the profits which you are certain to make. They are simple serpents, the peasants: don’t forget that.”
    “Yes, I see that,” said Jonah, “but let me put it this way. The third field may not be essential – and by the third, I mean the field at the top. But we must build well back from the road, and I am inclined to think that, when we cut into the mountain, as we shall have to do, we shall either reach that field or else undermine its edge. And then, if we do not own it, we shall be sunk: for we shall have to have it – at any price.”
    De Moulin nodded.
    “I see your point,” he said. “And in building one never knows. Very well, then. These three fields. But you must not buy more for the present – unless you are millionaires.”
    “Which brings us,” said Berry, “directly to the question of price. We must, of course, accept that, now that the water is coming, any property here is worth twice as much as it was.”
    De Moulin smiled.
    “Monsieur,” he said, “dismiss such a notion at once. The peasants will not give it a thought. They use so little water, compared with you. Besse only desired Lally’s water that she might be able to boast. For all that, I must tell you at once that you will be forced to pay much more than these meadows are worth. Take this first meadow, for instance. If a peasant was to buy this, he would pay at the very most some thirty-five pounds. It is roughly ninety yards long by some forty deep; but land so far from a town is of very little value and, when it is sloping, as this is, it is of less value still. But you will be asked three hundred.”
    “Good lord,” said everyone.
    “And will pay one hundred and