Ten years had passed since Annika's place in the professors' house had been firmly restored. There had been a war – one rarely manages to live one's life without there being a war somewhere – and Vienna had been shaken. Badly. But Vienna did as it had always done: picked itself back up, dusted itself of and got on with it. The Opera House put on shows; the street musician played their music; the patisseries baked cakes and pastries and the Danube flowed undisturbed through the heart of the city.
But there had been changes. In the square where the professors' house stood in the middle of its row, the goldfish still swam in the fountain of the equestrian statue and the obnoxious hoot of the Eggharts' motor could still be heard, but those who had lived in the square long enough to call it home knew the difference. The two eldest Bodek boys had been called to serve in the army and the elder had come back with one leg. The younger did not come back at all. The lady who had always sold Annika the newspaper had passed away and the shop was now looked after the daughter. Loremarie Egghart had moved away to serve as a lady in waiting for the cousin of a duchess somewhere in France.
And in the house of the professors, there had been a few changes indeed. Professor Julius had too passed. He had seen his beloved rise up from the photograph by the window and she had told him to come; so he had. His absence could be felt at the university where a new professor taught geology, but without the enthusiasm of his predecessor for the origins of the volcanic rock. It could be felt upstairs where his room stood empty. It could be felt in the dining room where now only two places were set. But Professor Julius had been a sensible man and his family and friends knew that moping around the house and crying would be silly and would have ashamed him so they did neither.
Below stairs, there had been a few changes as well. Ellie and Sigrid, though hey hast tried to put it off for as long as possible, had had to retire. Ellie's feet had always troubled her but now her hands too shook. Her joints ached and she found she could no longer climb to the top of the hill at Pettlesdorf to air out her soul. When she had voiced her plans to retire to Sigrid, her faithful friend and companion had decided at once to accompany Ellie wherever she went. There had been no question as to where they would go: there was a small cottage waiting for them in Merano, one with a weathervane shaped like a crowing cock on the roof.
As to who would replace them had also been clear for there was really no one else who could do their job but Annika. Annika herself had been away in England, attending a cookery school. It had not been necessary, of course, for her to attend since the training she had received at the hands of her adopted mother and aunt could not be matched even by the finest schools. However, the professors, as scholars, had felt it essential that Annika receive a university education and so she had been sent to England to relearn the art of making perfect pastry dough. It was a good school and Annika loved it. She loved the green lawns and the hills in the distance; she loved the lake in the university's park; she loved the friendly British girls in her class and the charming young men who tipped their hats to her when she passed. In her time there, she learned how to give the English dishes with their abundance of potatoes a flavour. She learned the best way to say "No, thank you," to the marriage proposals of the gentlemanly scholars who fell head over heels in love with her (and there were a few of those). And she learned to miss home in a way that did not hurt, was not hopeless, but was good.
However, when she received news in her third and final year that Ellie and Sigrid planned to retire, she was ready and willing to leave at once. She was concerned about the final exams or leaving her new found friends but she knew where she belonged and that was at home. Nevertheless, no matter how eager she was to return home, the professors and Ellie were firm when they said she must stay on to finish her studies.
Ellie has found a perfectly nice girl from her village to help in the kitchen until you arrive, Professor Emil had written in his letter. You are to stay on and finish the year before coming home.
At the end of her academic year, Annika came first in her class. She stayed only as long as necessary to collect her diploma graciously, say goodbye to her friends and pack her belongings before heading out to catch the next train home, straight to Vienna.