This Month's Installment
Miss Hanna Teichgräber, my loyal nurse, tells me however that after a short period of work here, she was called to a Rodenburg hospital that should be under your and Else's management. So the heavy duty falls to you to inform her gently of the death of the old man, and I am writing to you as quickly as possible so that she hears about it from no other. Tell her that he has fallen as a hero.If I should yet relate something of myself, such is it: it's going well for me, actually too well for a soldier in such a war. But the idylls and quiet of a parsonage in peacetime are so dear to me, too, and I am so well lookt after here,---172---in the war, every soldier burns against the enemy. I hope in a short time to be able to be in the field again and with my troops and by this prospect rein in my impatience. Yester-day and the day before yester-day, it was hot here. We have fought bravely. But it has also cost very heavy casualties. Be well!Your Fritz."Hans set the letter, which he had just read aloud to Else, before himself on the desk. It was already late in the evening; they had just come out of the hospital, and Else had taken care of her refugees."It will be hard on Edith," she said."Wonderful," he replied, "I was never well-disposed towards the old man, nor he to me. But now, after this death, I see him in a different light, like everything, actually. He really was quite a guy! To go into the war at such an age and to die like that... tremendous!"He fought against the movement that wanted to overcome him. He was now easily moved. Previously, it had never been like him. "I will have Edith called over," he said."Don't you want to wait until to-morrow? She has the night watch to-day. In the afternoon, when she has had a good night's sleep, you can tell her about it; she'll still find out about it early enough."He was undecided for a moment. "No," he said then, "it's not right to delay it until to-morrow; she must hear it immediately. It was for this purpose that Fritz has written so quickly. Of him you say nothing at all."
Grammatical Minutiae/Commentary
I'm not sure whether "Von ihm sagst du gar nichts" at the very end of this selection is meant as an indicative (which is how I translated it: "Of him you say nothing at all") or an oddly phrased imperative ("Of him say nothing at all"). As I get further into the conversation, maybe it will become obvious.
