This Month's Installment
As always, the italicized part is what I'm unsure about.
Bad enough that one could not go out at least as a chaplain to encourage the soldiers,---134---and to comfort and take care of the wounded. I was at the town hall yester-day-""You wanted to come too?" askt Fritz, full of amazement."Certainly I wanted to. But they absolutely refused it. I would be indispensable here, I had to be content with that.""You will do good here too. I'm completely sure of it.""I will not be idle. That is the only comfort that remains for me."This day a completely new agreement between the two brothers was sealed. Quite wonderful, said Hans to himself, what everything enables to-day. They give new meaning not only to the matters but also to the people and our whole relationship to them.In the early morning of the next day, Fritz moved out with his soldiers. For Hans, however, the hours that Fritz stayed in his house were become hours of incomparable benefit. I had never previously thought I would ever go to school with him, he said to himself, and now he is become a good teacher for me!And it became again happy and free in him.Meanwhile, Fritz went out into the dawning morning that was blossoming in the dull blue sky and filled the quiet world with its triumphant light.The next stop he had to take a short meal was Pronitten; from there on out, there was then a long march straight through the country to the staging grounds of the troops. He still would have liked to ride close to Bärwalde for a moment, but he had no time for this.Tired and sleepy lay the large parish garden in the heat of the morning. A few white moths---135---glided slowly over the flowerbeds there, the buzzing of the bees that drowsily flew from blossom to blossom was the only sound in the stifling loneliness.He didn't need to look for long. Through the high shrubs of the beans over there, where the vegetable garden was positioned, he saw a woman's dress shimmering; now he was at her side, so quickly that she had not noticed his coming at all and became aware of him only through the jingle of his spurs as he stood close by her. A slight shock went through her body, but a bright joy shone out of her face towards him."How nice that you have come once again!" she said in her winning manner and shook his hand."Yes," he replied, "what you still did not want to believe back then is now here. A few minutes more, then I move out from here with my troops to the assembly point. And then we face the enemy."
Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary
I translated "Sammlungsort" as "staging grounds," but literally, it's something like "collection place."
I don't know if "the high shrubs of the beans" really makes any sense, but it's the best I could come up with.
This is the end of chapter twenty-six and the beginning of chapter twenty-seven.
