Up sprang Mr. Fajka at these words.
"That is all the same to us," he said; "if matters stand so, let us have hail by all means, for when once all the villagers are insured by the Trieste Insurance Company, I see no difference whether there is hail or not. In fact, it would be better if there were some, for, if I know the villagers well, they will immediately go and insure the harvest far beyond its worth if the dead body is taken through the village. So the hail would not be such a great misfortune, but the carriage of the corpse through the village would be."
He was a grand debater after all, that Senator Fajka, for he had again hit the right nail on the head, and at the same time enlightened the Galba and the Kozsehuba factions.
"What a brain!" they exclaimed.
The word brain reminded Galba of the dissecting part of the business—per associationem idearum—and he at once began to discuss the point.
"Why dissect the man? We know who he is, for it is as plain as pie-crust that he is an agent for some Insurance Company, and has hanged himself here in our neighborhood in order to make people insure their harvest. It's as clear as day!"
"You are mad, Galba," said Konopka crossly.
Upon which the Senators all jumped up from their places, and then the noise broke forth, or, as Fiala, the town-servant and crier, used to say, "they began to boil the town saucepan," and every eye was fixed on the mayor, the spoon which was to skim the superfluous froth. But the mayor drew his head down into the dark blue collar of his coat, and seemed quite to disappear in it; he gnawed his mustache, and stood there helplessly, wondering what he was to say and do now, when all at once the door opened, and Gyuri Wibra stood before them. In spite of all folks may say, the powers above always send help at the right moment.
At sight of the stranger, who, an hour or two before, had wanted to buy an old umbrella of Mrs. Müncz, the mayor suddenly pushed back his chair and hurried toward him (let the Senators think he had some important business to transact with the new arrival).
"Ah, sir," he said hurriedly, "you were looking for me, I suppose?"