Next to him it is Cousin Maud that we three links the Schopper chain ought ever to hold dearest in memory; and it was by a strange chance that he and she died, not only on the same day, but, as it were, of the same death.  Death came upon him at the Schoppers’ table with the cup in his hand, after that Ann, his “watchman” had warned him to be temperate; and this was three years after her husband’s death.  And Cousin Maud, as she came forth from the kitchen, whither she had gone to heat her famous spiced wine for Uncle Christian, who was already gone, fell dead into Margery’s arms when she heard the tidings of his sudden end.

Among the sundry matters which long dwelt in the minds both of Margery and Ann, and were handed down to their grandchildren, were the Magister’s Latin verses in their praise.  It is but a few years since Master Peter Piehringer departed this life at a great age, and when Gotz’s boys went through their schooling so fast and so well they owed it to his care and learning.  But chiefly he devoted himself to Ann’s daughters, Margery and Agnes, and indeed it is ever so that our heart goeth forth with a love like to that for our own sons or daughters to the offspring of the woman we have loved, even when she has never been our own.

Eppelein Gockel, my brother’s faithful serving-man, was wed to Aunt Jacoba’s tiring-woman.  After his master’s death I made him to be host in the tavern of “The Blue Sky,” and whereas his wife was an active soul, and his tales of the strange adventures he had known among the Godless heathen brought much custom to his little tavern parlor, he throve to be a man of great girth and presence.

By the seventh year after our home-coming my hardest cares for the concerns of my trade were overpast, albeit I must even yet keep my eyes open and give brain and body no rest.  Half my life I spent in journeying, and whereas I perceived that it was only by opening up other branches of trade that I might fulfil the many claims which ever beset me, I set myself to consider the matter; and inasmuch as that I had seen in the house of Akusch how gladly the women of Egypt would buy hazel-nuts from our country, I began to deal in this humble merchandise in large measure; and at this day I send more than ten thousand sequins’ worth of such wares, every year, by ship to the Levant.  Likewise I made the furs of North Germany and the toys of Nuremberg a part of my trade, which in my uncle’s life-time had been only in spices and woven goods.  And so, little by little, my profits grew to a goodly sum, and by God’s favor our house enjoyed higher respect than it ever had had of old.

And it is a matter of rejoicing to me that at this time there is again an Im Hoff at its head with me, so that the old name shall be handed down; Ann’s oldest daughter, Margery Schopper, having married one Berthold Im Hoff, who is now my worthy partner.