mallest sin. My! My! But then we
shall hear pretty tales! From the Burgomaster down, everyone in Leipsic
will have to get a new pair of ears, for what one hears will be as
outrageous and unseemly as among the savages."

These observations showed the Court apothecary that Frau Vorkel had,
despite her want of intelligence, grasped to a certain extent the
importance of his discovery; while this pleased him in a way, it also
made him uneasy, therefore he made her swear on the crucifix that so
long as she lived she would never impart to any living soul, his son
excepted, what she had that evening experienced.

Then Herr Ueberhell went back to his search for the unknown element
which had given to his son's elixir the power that had been exhibited
in such wonderful fashion. But he did not succeed in finding the right
ingredient, for as often as he called Frau Vorkel to come and inhale
the new mixture, she gave such plausible and politic answers to his
dangerous questions that he could be by no means sure of her absolute
truthfulness. Then too the operations progressed slowly because that day
at noon his finger had been badly cut by the bursting of a glass retort.
So presently he ceased work for a while and insisted that Frau Vorkel
should take the phial in her own hand and inhale its contents once more,
because it pleased him to try the power of the elixir.

With an amused smile he asked her if she used the great quantities of
wool, which she so constantly demanded, for no other purpose than to
knit socks for him.

The phial trembled in the hand of the housekeeper, and before she could
help it her response had passed her lips:

"You have all the socks that you need and it is surely no great crime
for me to knit a few pairs to warm the feet of your assistant, that
poor, silent worm who stands downstairs the livelong day in the cold
shop."

Despite this reply Herr Ueberhell only laughed and continued the
inquisition gaily. He next wished to know who was dearer to the heart
of the housekeeper, the assistant or her late husband, to which she
rejoined "Why should I lament Vorkel? He was a bully, who never could
learn how to cut out a coat, and always stole his customers' cloth."
At that moment there was an ominous crash on the floor, and a powerful
odour filled the laboratory; the phial had slipped from the hands of the
frightened woman.

What happened after that Frau Vorkel even in her old age shuddered to
recall. How it