He asked her what she had been doing with herself since he had last seen her, and she said: "Waiting.

I am always waiting." He knew that she referred to her lover, who had been lost in an avalanche the eve before their wedding morning.

That was four years ago, but Catharina was still waiting.

Allitsen remembered her as a bright young girl, singing in the Gasthaus, waiting cheerfully on the guests: a bright gracious presence.

No one could cook trout as she could; many a dish of trout had she served up for him.