He had received a
terrible blow, and one must forgive him for not having followed the
coffin, particularly, as nothing else was wanting that was necessary to
an imposing and expensive funeral: Frau Schimmel had taken care of that,
having arranged it on her own responsibility. When the great healer,
Time, had comforted him, then would he draw near to them again, most of
his friends thought, yes even nearer than before, now that he had lost
his invalid wife who had hindered him from joining their gay circles.
We are so willing to be lenient to the unfortunate, for a Greater than we
has visited them with sorrow such as man could not inflict.
But it ended otherwise than his friends anticipated. The Three Kings lay
there like a deserted house, and although the tall chimney on the roof
began to belch forth streams of smoke by night, as well as by day, hardly
four weeks after the death of Bianca, it was commonly supposed that the
place was unoccupied. Commonly supposed: for once in a while the knocker
was heard when Herr Winckler called, happy childish laughter floated out
from the open window, or Frau Schimmel was seen with her basket on her
arm going to market.
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