Page:Karel Čapek - The Absolute at Large (1927).djvu/70

 at one fell swoop. They opened the safes and gave away the money to anyone who came. They finished by burning bundles of banknotes on a bonfire in the main hall. Religious Bolshevism, I should call it."

"In the Sugar Bank? Hasn't the Sugar Bank one of our Karburators?"

"Yes. For central heating. The Sugar Bank was the first to install one. Now the police have closed the Bank. Even the confidential clerks and the directors were affected."

"Send word round that the sale of Karburators to banks is forbidden."

"But why?"

"I forbid it, and that's enough! Let them do their heating with coal!"

"It's a bit too late. All the banks are already putting in our heating system. It's being installed in the Houses of Parliament and in all the Government departments. The central Karburator at Stvanice, which is to light the whole of Prague, is finished. It is a fifty-kilo monster, a magnificent machine. It is to be ceremoniously set in motion at six o'clock the day after to-morrow, in the presence of the President, the Burgomaster, the City Council, and the representatives of the M. E. C. You must be present. You of all people!"

"God forbid!" Mr. Bondy shouted,