The two had risen from their chairs and
were leaning over the wide window seat which served as a store-house
for the wares turned out by the busy workman. They were toys,
mostly, all sorts of little pots and plates, dolls' furniture, balls
of various sizes, miniature bowling pins, and tops. Muller took up
one of the latter.
"How very clever you are, and how industrious," he exclaimed,
sitting down again and turning the top in his hands. It was covered
with gray varnish with tiny little yellow stripes painted on it.
Towards the lower point a little bit of the varnish had been broken
off and the reddish wood underneath was visible. The top was much
better constructed than the cheap toys sold in the village. It was
hollow and contained in its interior a mechanism started by a
pressure on the upper end. Once set in motion the little top spun
about the room for some time.
"Oh, isn't that pretty! Is this mechanism your own invention?"
asked Muller smiling. Gyuri watched the top with drawn brows and
murmured something about "childish foolishness."
"Yes, it is my own invention," said the patient, flattered. He
started out on an absolutely technical explanation of the mechanism
of tops in general and of his own in particular, an explanation so
lucid and so well put that no one would have believed the man
who was speaking was not in possession of the full powers of his
mind.
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