Out in the main part of the shop he heard the muffled voices of Herr Rosenstrauch and his customer, but the words were indistinct and he could not tell what was being discussed. Eventually, however, the door bell rattled again indicating that the business had been concluded and that the customer had left. A few seconds later Rosenstrauch returned to his friend.

"Strange," said the glasscutter picking up a second block of glass and placing it on the optical bench.

"What is strange?" asked Mendel.

"That customer," replied Rosenstrauch jerking his thumb in the direction of the shop. "He was asking how much I would give him for a Krautstrunk beaker."

"A what?" asked Mendel.

a Krautstrunk Beaker

Rosenstrauch grinned. "It's a tall, round, glass beaker less than half a klafter high, but covered on the outside by rows and rows of prunts. That's where it gets it's name 'cabbage stalk'. It's an ugly type of Bohemian or German glass, but some people like it, and a good, genuine piece is worth a lot of money."

"How much?" Mendel could not help asking.

Once again, Rosenstrauch grinned. "A genuine piece from the 15th century would probably be worth about 10,000 gulden - " he broke off as his friend gave a loud gasp, "but, as he didn't have the piece with him, I could only offer him an estimate. There are a lot of fakes around. I have pieces of one such fake myself, and they are only worth a few Marks."

"Would you buy something like that?" Mendel wanted to know.

"If the piece were genuine, I would probably make him an offer," Rosenstrauch said slowly, "but we talk of empty air. This man was only asking about a price. He is probably shopping around for the dealer who will give him the most money for his beaker, and I cannot compete with some of the larger glass sellers. They always get the best pieces."

"Did you know this man?"

"No, but that is not unusual. Many people when they fall on hard times come to me with some family heirloom and out of embarrassment try to hide their identity. But this man was probably from around here, he had a strange accent I could not place... But enough, let's get back to the bending of light. As I said ..."

But Mendel had spotted the time. "Sorry, Herr Rosenstrauch, I am very interested in your experiments, and would like to talk to you about them some more at a later date, but I have to see Herr Theimer before he goes home. He has the proofs of my paper, which is going to be published this year in the official Proceedings of the Natural Science Society. He wants me to check the galleys for any errors. I said I would see them today, and it is already late".

"Naturally, I understand, and in the meantime I will have a look at this microscope of yours and see what I can do," Herr Rosenstrauch said with a smile. "I will send my boy to you probably the day after tomorrow with a note. The damage looks bad, but if none of the lenses have been cracked or broken it will probably be a matter of realigning the main barrel, testing and re-calibrating all the lenses. It should only take a few days - once I get started."

"Thank you, Herr Rosenstrauch, I would be very grateful, Professor Ausbach is awaiting my opinion of his specimens, and I would not like to keep him waiting too long."

"I understand, I will do what I can, and don't forget you promised to come and help me with my light bending experiments some time."