This Month's Installment
As always, the italicized parts are what I'm unsure about.But he was soon interrupted. Two children approximately four to six years old came into the room, rushed to Nuscha and greeted her in a passionate and affectionate way, while they offered their hand to the gentleman by the chimney in a grave, almost shy manner, and not until her sign. Now they turned back to the young girl and told her all sorts of things that they had seen and experienced. For their age, they spoke perfect French, and Nuscha answered them the same way. Soon after, they all left the room, and from his writing desk he saw them walk out through the garden of the promenade.
"Baron Sopinecki, a Russian Pole by birth, but now he's lived in Petersburg for a long time,"
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he was informed in the hall by the dignified owner of the "Seastar" who in his gold-embroidered cap ruled his large house in the good old nature of a father and personally lookt after every guest and took all meals together with his numerous staff. "I don't know him, until now he has always lived in the casino and has come in the 'Seastar' for the first time. He arrived yester-day in the late evening with the two little ones on the Königsberg steamer, his wife is still in Baden, however, he expects her soon."
Also in the coming days, Nuscha took up the same reserved spot across from him, and he did not make it difficult for her. Sometimes he was very glad to look after himself again now. But then came hours where he missed her, he did not even want to admit it to himself.
Despite the tennis tournament's having long since ended, the young French couple had stayed at the "Seastar" for its recovery from the strains of the sport. One of the two Englishmen likewise appeared to have the intention to stay a little longer in the comfortable house with his sister. He saw her only at meals. The entrance of people had become less because of the unsteady weather, the tables became smaller.
Only one big one was still in the dining room; in the middle of it he saw the gaunt Russian state councillor, always in a long black overcoat, usually also with a black neck tie. Across from him sat Nuscha, most of the time dressed likewise in dark colors and with almost affected simplicity, on either side of her were the children, to whom she distributed the food. They were allowed to speak no word, not once to move, the sharp eye of the father kept a strict rein on them.
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They and Nuscha communicated only through looks or short casually thrown in words, mostly in French but sometimes also in Russian; then no one understood them. But more often he listened to Nuscha talking with her neighbors, the young Englishman and his blonde sister, who probably were now set on her wish for her. She even served them in the language of their country, but she didn't speak it as fluently as French.
Finally the weather cleared up. Hans believed he had never before in his life seen a sea so blue, a sky so cloudless. Full of fervor he absorbed the balmy air and went on his old beloved walks over the beach promenade or in the glorious forest. Also now he almost never encountered Nuscha and her mysterious companion outside. In the morning, they remained at home, sat for hours in a secluded corner of the large writing room, read and wrote letters, without speaking with one an-other.
Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary
There's quite a contrast between the way in which the two children greet Nuscha and the way they greet the man by the chimney: "Zwei Kinder im Alter von ungefähr vier bis sechs Jahren kamen in das Zimmer, stürzten auf Nuscha zu und begrüßten sie auf stürmisch zärtliche Art, während sie dem Herrn am Kamin in gemessener, beinah scheuer Weise und erst auf ihren Wink die Hand boten." "Art" and "Weise" are synonyms, and in order to emphasize the contrast, I translated them so that the word used with Nuscha ("way") is more common, while the word used with the man by the chimney ("manner") is a bit more formal.The sentence beginning "'Baron Sopinecki, a Russian Pole by birth...'" is in active voice in the original text, but I put it in passive voice in my translation so I could put the lengthy relative clause closer to what it modifies: "the dignified owner." Otherwise, the subject would be two lines away from the verb.
Ultimately, it doesn't make any difference, but I noticed an interesting ambiguity in the sentence "Auch ihnen diente sie in der Sprache ihres Landes, aber sie sprach sie nicht so geläufig wie die französische." There are two "sie"s in the second clause, but it's unclear which refers to Nuscha and which refers to "Sprache" (a feminine [die] word but in the dative case here). It's unclear, then, whether the clause is inverted (with the direct object preceding the verb, probably for emphasis) or not.
I had some fun in translating "Voller Inbrunst sog er die balsamische Luft und wanderte seine altgeliebten Spaziergänge über die Strandpromenade oder hinein in den herrlichen Wald" so that "Voller Inbrunst" alliterates ("full of fervor") and "in den herrlichen Wald" exhibits assonance ("in the glorious forest").
This is the end of chapter fifteen and the beginning of chapter sixteen.
