This Month's Installment
To join myself now to completely strange people in an unknown congregation with such a responsible mission, I don't have the courage for that."
She had gotten up and stood in a position exactly opposite him; then the bitter uncommunicativeness was also in her figure.
As Hans left Edith, two things were in him: anger and sadness. And he didn't know which of the two was larger.
From this hour on, there was a change in him. One noticed it both in his character and in his work. He was busier and more dedicated in his work than ever. But he struggled with some difficulties in his position that concerned him all the more, he took everything ever more scrupulously.
The spring came and brought a few beautiful days of the gathering of the three siblings in Bärwalde. But even Fritz found his brother changed.
"It is the uninterrupted activity that has exhausted him," he said to Else. "If he had my healthy work out in the open, he would be fresh and well like I."
On an evening on the veranda they both took him to task: he had to open up and do something for himself. He refused.
But as the summer came closer and the days in Rodenburg became hot and paralyzing for the work, the longing for air and freedom grabbed him so unbearably that he submitted an application for four weeks of vacation and set out on the trip.
---56---
The rain fell in thick strands for three days, persistently, relentlessly. A few showers mixed with it, and from the sea a fresh breeze came up.
In the fireplace of the ancient, furnished hall, the fire crackled. A small circle of people was gathered around it.
I have no notes this month, other than I finished chapter nine and started chapter ten.
