He undersold him by at least five per cent, and the end of it is that poor Mariotte's credit is badly shaken.
Gaubertin is now pressing and harassing the poor man so that he is driven, they tell me, to leave not only Auxerre, but even Burgundy itself; and he is right.

In this way land-owners have long been sacrificed to dealers who now set the market-prices, just as the furniture-dealers in Paris dictate values to appraisers.

But Gaubertin saves the owners so much trouble and worry that they are really gainers." "How so ?" asked the general.
"In the first place, because the less complicated a business is, the greater the profits to the owners," answered Sibilet.

"Besides which, their income is more secure; and in all matters of rural improvement and development that is the main thing, as you will find out.

Then, too, Monsieur Gaubertin is the friend and patron of working-men; he pays them well and keeps them always at work; therefore, though their families live on the estates, the woods leased to dealers and belonging to the land-owners who trust the care of their property to Gaubertin (such as MM.