One saw in the frightened faces how much good the friendliness of the pretty, elegant woman did for them as they thawed out of their rigidity under her impression and lookt at the world again more optimistically. Many got down from their vehicles; they were tired of the long trip and wanted to rest here; others planned to travel farther; to those, the young girls brought bread and coffee to the wagon.
Inside, busy life progressed gradually; the people sat on the long benches and enjoyed the warm snacks, or they stood in groups and talkt about that which they went through, most still depressed and with quiet, timid voices.
"No, Pastor, it doesn't go that way!"
Edith stood near Hans, who was just busy in cutting off a large slice from a loaf of bread for an older man;
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however, he was not exactly very skillful with it: "You are bleeding already and not just a little."
She had taken the bread out of his hand and quickly fetched some dressing material with which she bandaged his thumb; almost in the same moment, she already divided one slice of bread from the others, spread it with butter, and handed it to the old man and several children, who had literally fixed themselves on her dress.
He saw it with quiet admiration, above all, that she let her great suffering be so completely swallowed up in her work for others. But at the same time, he felt shame about his ineptitude; it annoyed him that he had just exposed himself opposite her that way, and just when Frau Lisa came over to him in rushing activity and touched his bound hand with a quiet, derisive laugh, he took the bandage off again.
Near him stood a group of women; they were telling dreadful things about the Russian invasion: how they had immediately shot down the old administrator of the neighboring property, who approached them in a friendly manner, and set his house on fire.
