However, the rebuilding was put in hand, and, of course, the business had
to be wound up and the shop closed before the old front was torn down.
Schimmel, the gray-haired dispenser, married the widow Vorkel, who had
kept house for the late Herr Ueberhell. These two might have related
many strange occurrences to the cousins and kin had they chosen, but he
was a reserved man, and she had been so sworn to silence, and had lived
through such an agitating experience before the death of the old man that
she repulsed all questioners so sharply that they dared not return to the
charge.
The old housekeeper as she watched the deserted father grow indifferent
to what he had to eat and drink--though he had once been so quick to
appreciate the dishes which she prepared so deftly--and neglectful of the
attentions which he had been wont to pay to the outside world, became
embittered towards Melchior whom she had carried in her arms and loved
like her own child. In former times Herr Ueberhell had been accustomed
now and then to invite certain friends to dine with him, and these guests
had praised her cooking, but later, and more especially after the death
of his cousin and colleague, Blumentrost, who had also been his master,
he had asked no one into his well-appointed house.
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