d, had
sold a few trifles to the villagers, slept at the inn, and had bought a
very old seal from a certain Raksanyi for two florins. He must have had
all his senses about him then, for when we took him out of the Garam, he
had the seal in his coat pocket, and we sold it for fifty florins to an
antiquary, as it turned out to be the seal of Vid Mohorai, of the time
of King Arpad."

"Yes, but these particulars have nothing to do with the subject in
question," interrupted the young man.

"You will see, sir, that they will be useful to you."

"Well, perhaps so; but I don't see what they have to do with the
umbrella."

"You will see in time, if you will listen to the rest of my tale. I
heard in Podhragy that he went from there to Abelova, so I went there
too. From what I heard, I began to fear that my father was beginning to
lose his senses, for he had always inclined toward melancholy. Here they
told us that he had bought a lot of 'Angel Kreutzers' (small coins, on
which the crown of Hungary is represented, held by two angels; they were
issued in 1867, and many people wear them as amulets, and believe they
bring luck) from the villagers for four kreutzers each; but later on I
found I was mistaken in my surmise."

"How was that? Was he not yet mad?"

"No, for a few days later, two young Jews appeared in Abelova, each
bringing a bag of 'angel kreutzers,' which they sold to the villagers
for three kreutzers each, though they are really worth four."

"So it is possible ..."

"Not only possible, but certain, that the two young cheats had been told
by the old man to buy up all the 'angel kreutzers' they could, and he
thus became their confederate without knowing it. So it is very probable
he may have been mad then, or he would have had nothing to do with the
whole affair. From Abelova he went through the Viszoka Hor forest to
Dolinka, but we could find out nothing about his doings, though he spent
two days there. But in the next village, Sztrecsnyo, the children ran
after him, and made fun of him, like of the prophet Elijah, and he,
unfastening his pack (not the prophet Elijah, but my poor father), began
throwing the various articles he had for sale at them. In fifty years'
time they will still remember that day in Sztrecsnyo, when soap,
penknives, and pencils fell among them like manna from heaven. Since
then it is a very common saying there: 'There was once a mad Jew in
Sztrecsnyo.'"

"Bother Sztrecsnyo, let us retu