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Bibelgesellschaft

Written by Bjorn Hasseler

"He kommen . . . he comes . . . no, he goes . . . "

Katharina Meisnerin tried not to fidget while Friedrich struggled with the translation.

Dr. Green took pity on him, sort of. "Friedrich, parse that word, please."

"Aorist tense . . . passive voice . . . indicative . . . "

"Are you sure about that?"

"Uh, no."

Katharina watched Dr. Green very carefully. "No" was usually the safe answer when he asked that question, but every once in a while it was a trap, just to see if a student had any confidence in his answer.

"Then what is it?"

Friedrich hemmed and hawed before finally admitting, "I don't know."

"Anyone?"

Katharina made sure to be studying her book intently. If she so much as twitched, she was going to get called on.

"Katharina?"

Alas, sitting still didn't always work. "It's a participle," she answered.

"Correct. Friedrich, continue."

Friedrich contemplated the participle for about ten seconds and ventured, "Second person, singular, from poreuomai, translated 'going.'"

"Do participles have person?"

No! Katharina thought loudly in Friedrich's direction. Case, gender, and number . . .

"What is a participle?" Dr. Green looked around the room. "Katharina?"

"A participle is a verbal noun."

"What do nouns have instead of person?"

"Gender?" Friedrich guessed.

"And?"

"Number."

"And?"

"Case?"

"Yes. So what is this?"

"Masculine, singular . . . nominative."

"Correct," Dr. Green said. "However . . ."

The bell rang. Thank you, God, Katharina prayed.

"However it is not passive, but deponent," Dr. Green finished quickly. "For homework parse the rest of the verbs including participles in verses eighteen to twenty."

Katharina started gathering up her books, hurrying to get to last period gym class on time.

"Katharina," Dr. Green called.

"Yes?"

"We've received a letter. I'll read it at the Bibelgesellschaft meeting."

"Thank you." Katharina practically floated down the hallway. Dr. Green knew she disliked gym class, so he'd timed his news to give her a distraction.

****

Forty minutes later, Katharina had to admit that basketball wasn't actually cruel and unusual punishment. It just seemed that way because she could be doing something productive with her time. The gym teacher finally dismissed them, and she headed for the locker room.

"You know, Kat, you could be a good player if you'd just put in some extra practice. You could stay after tonight and practice with the team."

Katharina recognized a recruiting pitch when she heard one. "No thanks, Kelli. I have a Bibelgesellschaft meeting. Dr. Green told us we've received a letter."

Kelli Fritz rolled her eyes. "It's a letter. What's the big deal?"

"But it could be about a manuscript." Katharina tried to rein in her excitement. She'd occasionally been told that it scared people.

"I don't understand why your Bible society is looking for old Bibles. We've got perfectly good German and English Bibles. Now if you were making a new one in one of the Native American languages, that'd make sense. Or Turkish. Even Amideutsch."

Katharina shook her head. "Amideutsch isn't fixed yet. There's no need for an Amideutsch Bible, anyway. Almost everyone who can read it could read Hochdeutsch or English. As far as Turkish and the Native American languages, Alicia and Nona need to find native speakers to do the translation."

"The Abrabanels?" Kelli prompted.

"Kelli, why would the Abrabanels be interested in translating the New Testament? And they read the Old Testament in Hebrew, anyway."

"But a couple of them came to one of your meetings," Kelli recalled.

"We had some questions about the Hebrew in a few Old Testament passages," Katharina told her. Which was entirely true. The Abrabanels had also passed along that they thought a Bible translation in any of the Native American languages would be an excellent idea, and that a relative who worked for the government had assured them that even if any such Bibles had to be given to Cardinal Richelieu for transport to the New World, that would be okay. But that wasn't something Katharina intended to repeat.

So she redirected the conversation slightly. "In the meantime, those German and English Bibles you mentioned are not 'perfectly good.' They're good, but we can look at the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and make the German and the English Bibles better."

"How can you make the English better?" Amy Fodor chimed in. "Back up-time, we had the Dead Sea Scrolls and everything."

"Shh!" Katharina looked around quickly before deciding that the girls' locker room probably didn't contain any Turkish spies. "We do not want the Turks finding out about those."

"Sorry. But what else is left for you to do?"

"What's left?" Katharina was aghast. "Even you up-timers didn't have an up-to-date Majority Text in English. Just finding the manuscripts that you had but didn't collate will take at least a century!"

"So where are you going to look for them?" Kelli asked.

"We've made some inquiries, and we're going to Jena this spring to see if the theological faculty will help us." Then realism set in, and Katharina added, "Or at least write letters of recommendation for us. And Dr. Green has a letter. Why don't you come hear what it's about?"

"I can't. Practice. Let me know about it tomorrow, okay?" Kelli was equally adept at dodging a recruiting pitch.

"Okay."

The last bell rang, and Katharina hurried toward the set of classrooms everyone had started calling "the language wing." She met up with her friend Barbara on the way.

Dr. Green was tidying up after his other class, and Horst Felke was already there. He pointedly looked up at the clock. Katharina just smiled. She knew she and Barbara were on time. Getting there before she did mattered to Horst. He seemed to think it scored points for him in his ongoing competition with her.

Katharina was honest enough to admit that she really enjoyed outscoring Horst on a test. He usually beat her in math and science. She usually beat him in history. They were evenly matched in the languages, where they dueled for top of the class. But Katharina didn't see the Bibelgesellschaft as an arena for competition. If Horst figured out something before she did, so be it. She was more concerned with getting as much information as possible accurately organized and set out for use by . . . whomever could use it. The Bibelgesellschaft was nondenominational.

It had gotten its start over a misunderstanding. Horst and a couple of his friends had accused the Anabaptists of not believing in the Trinity. And then, knowing Anabaptists wouldn't fight back, they'd punched her brother Georg. Henry Sims and Gena Kroll had immediately flattened Horst and his friends. Herr Principal Saluzzo had assigned all concerned to go talk to both Father Larry Mazzare and Dr. Al Green. They'd quickly found out that their disagreement stemmed from differing biblical texts in 1 John 5:7-8. Both Mazzare and Green had insisted that this was not a doctrinal issue, and Katharina and Horst had grudgingly agreed to work together to find the best readings.

So the young Anabaptist woman didn't bat an eye when two Jesuits entered the classroom. Their presence wasn't a problem for her. Figuring out what to call them had been. "Do not call anyone on earth your father." Horst had pointed out that Matthew 23 also said not to be called teacher, either. A heated discussion had broken out between the Bible society's Catholics and Protestants. Katharina's brother Georg had calmly observed that the verse seemed to be about religious authority, and that since honor was due to whom honor was due, it was acceptable to address a school teacher as a teacher. Since Johannes Grunwald, SJ, had been one of the Latin teachers, the students had addressed him as Magister Grunwald. And they did the same for Johannes Olearius and the other Latin teachers. And since Athanasius Kircher had written books and was regarded as an authority on any number of subjects, it would probably be acceptable to address him as Magister Kircher. In fact, Kircher was reasonably famous, and Katharina was pleasantly surprised that the Bibelgesellschaft was one thing with which he made an effort to stay up-to-date. To be honest, she was also more than a little surprised that her normally quiet brother had so quickly thought of a solution that everyone could live with. It also meant that Al Green was Dr. Green to all the students, even if most of their parents knew him as Brother Green.

Horst's fellow Catholics Mattheus Beimler and Johann Speiss arrived next. Mattheus was an old Grantville hand who attended Calvert High. He was sixteen and headed for university as soon as he graduated. The BGS was only one of his wide array of interests. He took after Magister Kircher in that regard. He might become a priest some day, but he was equally likely to become a lawyer or scientist. Johann was, in the up-time phrase, tall, dark, and handsome. He attended the new Jesuit collegium in Grantville rather than Calvert High and had his heart set on being a priest, much to the dismay of many a young lady in Grantville.

A couple of Lutherans were right behind them. Markus Fratscher and Guenther Kempf were headed into the pastorate and wanted a good working relationship between the BGS and the University of Jena since that was where they hoped to attend. At least, Guenther hoped to attend there. He was also a member of the Young Crown Loyalists club and was determined to attend university in the USE. Markus, on the other hand, was Lutheran to the exclusion of anything else. He made no secret that he'd rather attend the University of Wittenberg, but Jena would do if the war got in the way.

Alicia Rice and Nona Dobbs wandered in. Alicia was a Methodist. Nona was Baptist. They were not just interested in missions but in going themselves. That was something that had never even occurred to Katharina. Part of up-time missions had been Bible translation, so here they were. It was hard for Katharina to tell how realistic their plans were. She sometimes thought that their idea of taking the Gospel to the Native Americans was romanticized to the point of impracticability. On the other hand, Dr. Green's books indicated that stranger things had happened in the other timeline.

"If everyone would take a moment to pray?" Dr. Green requested. They did so, silently. It was another compromise that the Bible society had arrived at. Green's prayers alternated between long and boring and long and exciting enough to make the Catholic and Lutheran students uncomfortable.

"Is there any correspondence to report?" Dr. Green asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"Yes," Magister Kircher spoke up. "We're received a communication from Rome."

Katharina sat up straight. This was unexpected.

Kircher continued. "Most of it dealt with other matters but there was a postscript acknowledging 'the up-timers concern for the uncial manuscript of the Holy Scriptures known to them as Codex Vaticanus, B, and 02. We find the Gregory System fascinating. Please send a complete inventory of the Gregory manuscripts and their locations. The Father-General has promised assistance in tracking them down.'"

In spite of her own astonishment, Katharina noticed a number of reactions ranging from Horst's look of triumph to Dr. Green's firm "Well, that's not going to happen" to an awestruck "Father-General Vitelleschi?" from one of the Catholic students.

"We must, of course, follow our vow of obedience," Athanasius Kircher said mildly.

Katharina was devoutly thankful that Kircher was an even-tempered man. Obviously he had to follow his orders. Equally obviously, Dr. Green didn't want any one group—Catholic or Protestant—controlling access to the biblical manuscripts or having exclusive knowledge of where to find them. Then she realized something.

"You have to do it, don't you?" she asked Kircher.

"Yes. Of course."

Katharina grinned. "Brilliantly done."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Athanasius Kircher protested.

"Sure you don't." Katharina was certain that American sarcasm was fully warranted. "The University of Jena really has no option now but to join us. It's that or be left behind."

"What do you mean?" Guenther asked quickly.

"The Catholic Church is going to get a list of manuscripts," she explained. "If the Lutherans want one, too . . ."

"You arranged for that letter!" Markus accused Kircher.

"I've also received a letter. Two letters, actually," Dr. Green stated. He slipped it in so smoothly that Katharina was convinced that he had probably aided and abetted Kircher's stratagem. "The first may not be of interest to you. It's from Moises Amyraut. You may have heard of him as Amyrald. He was the father of four-point Calvinism in the old time line—and this time line, too. He has some fascinating ideas about the two calls, the general and specific calls to salvation."

Dr. Green caught himself before the BGS zoned out completely. He was getting better at that, Katharina noted.

"But I'll save that for Sunday school," Dr. Green said. "The other letter, the one you're interested in, is from Archbishop Ussher." Before anyone groaned he added, "He relayed information to us from Patrick Young."

Katharina sat bolt upright. Patrick Young! The Royal Librarian of England! That meant . . .

"Patrick Young is studying Codex Alexandrinus, which was given to Charles I by Patriarch Cyril of Constantinople seven years ago. He specifically checked 1 Timothy 3:16 for us . . . ." Dr. Green read from the letter. "'I have examined the First Letter to Timothy, chapter three, verse sixteen. The reading is theta sigma, which as you know is an abbreviation of Theos. I must confess I an intensely curious as to why you sought this reading of this particular manuscript, and I beg that you furnish an explanation at your earliest convenience. I have the honor to be, etc.'"

"Woo-hoo!" Katharina shouted.

Everyone in the room stared at her. Dr. Green and Magister Kircher were clearly amused.

****

Katharina watched her friend Marta approaching the table with her lunch tray, and she realized Marta looked distinctly unhappy. Marta dropped into a chair and before Katharina could ask what was wrong, she blurted, "Katharina, I can't go to Jena."

"Why not?" Katharina asked quickly.

"My parents say the BGS is not trusting God for protection."

"What? Last month they said it was too dangerous, so Dr. Green hired guards."

"I know. But Father visited Brother Altmann last evening and came back saying we are not trusting God."

"It's not your fault, Marta," Katharina reassured her. "Brother Altmann has always been the most cautious of the elders." Then a thought struck her. "Does that mean Joseph can't go either?"

Marta nodded unhappily then said, "Katharina, what are we going to do?"

Katharina thought. "We could ask Dr. Green to talk to your parents."

Marta shook her head. "No, that's part of the problem. Brother Altmann mistrusts Dr. Green, and my parents are very influenced by Brother Altmann."

Katharina sighed.

****

Two days later, Alicia Rice interrupted Katharina in the hallway before school started. "Kat, I can't go to Jena."

"How come?"

"My mom thinks it's dangerous."

Katharina frowned. "Dangerous for down-time Anabaptists or Catholics, maybe. Dangerous for up-timers? Jena? Who would dare?"

"I know, I know! But Mom was talking to Reverend Mary Ellen, and they decided it could be dangerous. Mom worries a lot, with my brother Adam in the National Guard."

"This is a lot less dangerous than the National Guard," Katharina pointed out. "We might get street corner speakers criticizing sectarians and Catholics. But they might not even notice us."

"Hey, it's not my idea. I want to go to Jena."

"I'm sorry, Alicia. I know you do."

"I explained that the guards are really for you Anabaptists and for the Catholics because the BGS is going to a Lutheran town. Nobody in Jena is going to attack an up-timer. Especially at the University. The students pretty much are the CoC, right?"

Katharina nodded.

****

Katharina was quiet for the whole bus ride home. She dropped her books on the table and didn't even make an attempt to start reading something before Mother decided there was enough time to work in the garden before dinner.

The hills weren't really conducive to agriculture but there was enough room for a big vegetable garden. It followed the usual practice of two paths forming a cross in the middle but the land had been a hillside so Father and Georg had built a terrace on the uphill side of one of the walks. Mother was very . . . not proud, because Brethren weren't supposed to be proud . . . but very pleased with the garden. The terrace meant that she—and Katharina—had an easier time reaching the plants on the upper level.

Before coming to Grantville, the Meisners had had little more than a kale yard. Now they had a proper garden. There was still a quarter of kale, but there was also a quarter of up-time lettuce and spinach. The third quarter was peas, up-time peas, and up-time string beans, and the fourth was everything else. They even had a border of herbs.

There were a lot of potatoes and onions further down the hill. Someone—Katharina wasn't sure about the details—was paying a subsidy for potatoes that got used to grow more potatoes. The Freedom Arches was paying more but had agreed not to take more than a certain percentage. But they would happily take onions, too. The soil of the farm being what it was, potatoes and onions helped the Meisners get by.

Katharina thought things through while she pulled weeds. She had been counting on Joseph to do the talking for the Anabaptists in the BGS. He was one of the young Anabaptist men that Joe Jenkins thought might make a decent preacher some day. Horst and maybe Mattheus would speak for the Catholics, and probably both Markus and Guenther for the Lutherans. Her brother Georg was the only other Anabaptist boy in the BGS. Georg was involved mostly to humor her. Which meant she'd probably have to do the talking for the Anabaptists. Barbara wouldn't want to. Speaking in public isn't a problem for me, Katharina told herself a little firmly.

****

Several days later, Nona's parents were talking with Alicia's parents and the Bibelgesellschaft trip to Jena came up. By the end of the conversation, it was deemed to be too dangerous for Nona as well.

****

Finally the day arrived. Katharina was up before dawn, eager to be off to the University of Jena. Plus she got to the hot water before Georg did. She was showered, dressed, and halfway down the stairs to breakfast before she realized she'd heard no indication of Georg stirring.

"Hurry up, Georg!" she called. She thought she heard a "Mmrrff" in return.

"We'll be late!"

She heard his voice through his bedroom door. "Kat, we can't leave until everyone's there at eight of the clock. Is it even dawn yet?"

"Yes. Well, almost."

"Then it's only five and a half of the clock. I'll be down by six and a half."

Katharina and Georg's mother was already in the midst of cooking a big breakfast before they left. That wouldn't have been possible when they'd first moved to Grantville, but electrical lines had reached the Mennonite and Anabaptist settlements in the hills last year. There had been some discussion over whether they should follow the precedent of the up-time Amish and not use electricity. But there had also been the counterexample of the Mennonites using complex water pumps. Katharina hadn't cared about the technical details. What was important was the elders had accepted the power lines and hot water. Joe Jenkins' statement that electricity wasn't theology had clinched the matter, in Katharina's opinion.

"Get up, Georg!" Mother ordered. "You need a good breakfast. You'll need your strength."

Katharina smothered a grin. Georg just needed to drive the wagon. He had no intention of speaking to the professors at the University of Jena. In fact, he was mostly just going along to keep an eye on her. She sighed. She was seventeen years old and was one of eight students going. Plus there were the two pastors. Plus Pastor Green had hired bodyguards, just for a trip to Jena. They could have gotten there quickly by train, but Mother felt that was too extravagant. The elders had agreed. If it was extravagant or comfortable, there was a good chance it was sinful. When reported back to the Bibelgesellschaft, this had caused Pastor Green to mutter about spirit/matter dualism. Katharina was fairly sure he'd been muttering about Plato being in for a warm afterlife, too. The Lutheran members of the Bibelgesellschaft had taken it in stride, however, and even assured Katharina that even up-timers tended to think like this, and that one of them had even told them about a man up-time who had made up stories about a town with both Lutherans and Catholics and gently poked fun at their tendency to equate fun and comfort with sin.

In addition to making Garrison Keillor something of a hero to the Bibelgesellschaft, the decision that the train was too extravagant had resulted in the elders suggesting a wagon. After all, they didn't want the Bibelgesellschaft to walk to Jena as if they were refugees. That utterly contradicted their reasoning against the train, in Katharina's opinion, but since the elders had decided to make one of the community wagons available, she had decided not to point that out.

Pastor Green had been delighted. He said that their bodyguards had horses and could ride along. And that they could all meet at Neustatter's European Security Services. That way they wouldn't be leaving from any of the churches, and couldn't be accused of being under the thumb of any one denomination. Sometimes being non-denominational was a pain in the neck, Katharina reflected.

After Katharina and Georg had been fed more than was strictly necessary, Georg had hitched the horses to the wagon. Father and Mother had hugged them both and provided a litany of warnings. They'd promised to send a telegraph message home from Jena.

Georg stopped the wagon a little way down the road to pick up Barbara. There they received more warnings. But finally they were off. Georg was in no hurry, and neither were the horses. They heard church bells ring seven times as they skirted Grantville. Katharina fidgeted all the way. Finally Georg pulled up in front of Neustatter's European Security Services.

Sure enough, Horst Felke was already there, Katharina noted, as was Dr. Green. By the time Georg had tied the near horse to a hitching post, and helped the girls down from the wagon, Magister Kircher was coming down the road. The Jesuit scholar was wearing his clerical robes and a backpack.

After a round of good mornings, Dr. Green nodded toward the door. Katharina followed Magister Kircher and Horst inside. The office was small, with a Franklin stove in the back, just like the one Father had put in at home. There were two men seated in chairs by the stove, and a young woman at a desk to the left of the door.

All three of them rose instantly. One of the men had a commanding presence, and Katharina guessed this must be Herr Neustatter. He was fairly tall for a down-timer with broad shoulders and the look of someone who spent a lot of time outdoors. He had scary eyes, Katharina decided, the kind that appeared to know everything. Plus he was wearing a gunbelt. It wasn't the neat, official kind that the Polizei wore, either, but a rough leather belt that dipped down on one hip. The holster held an up-time pistol, nearly as large as down-time pistols.

"Guten morgen, Magister Kircher, Magister Green." He examined Horst and Katharina for a moment. "And Master Felke and Miss Meisnerin, if I'm not mistaken." He shook hands with all of them. "I'm Edgar Neustatter. I will be commanding your escort today."

He had a pronounced accent, Katharina noted. Bavarian, or perhaps Austrian.

"I don't recall mentioning the names of any of the students," Al Green commented.

"You didn't," Neustatter confirmed. He continued in German. "I am training my men in investigation. I sent one of my team leaders to Calvert High." He gestured toward the blond young man next to him. "May I introduce Hjalmar Schaub? I assure you, he is older than he looks. Hjalmar has been in the field just as long as I have, since 1626."

Herr Neustatter was definitely unsettling, Katharina decided. Not only had he referred to Calvert High the way the students did, but he had also clearly anticipated what Pastor Green was about to say. Hjalmar Schaub looked really young. And he'd been checking up on them. That was . . . disturbing. She stole a glance at Pastor Green. He seemed to feel the same way.

"I apologize for seeming to investigate you," Neustatter said smoothly, "but sometimes my clients aren't aware of something that affects their safety. As a security consultant, I dislike surprises."

"Did we surprise you with any safety concerns?" Athanasius Kircher asked. The Jesuit scholar hadn't blinked an eye at Neustatter's explanation.

Neustatter gave them a wry grin. "I have learned more about church politics than I ever wanted to know. I understand enough to know that your BGS would like to find the most accurate Greek Bible so that you can make better translations."

That was a remarkably succinct explanation, Katharina thought. It usually takes much longer than that to explain the BGS to a pastor. And where did he find out that we started calling the Bibelgesellschaft BGS among ourselves? Then she realized that as soon as Neustatter had gotten down to business, the Austrian accent had vanished.

Neustatter was still speaking. "I also understand that collaboration between people from several different churches alarms the more extreme members of all of those churches. Which is why you came to us, yes? Hjalmar, would you assemble your team out front?"

After he left, Neustatter indicated the woman at the desk. "May I introduce Miss Astrid Schäubin. Miss Meisnerin, you and Miss Kellarmännin will be her principals."

Katharina shot Neustatter a surprised look and examined Miss Schäubin. Long, blonde hair was swept forward over one shoulder and curled inward perfectly at the ends. Her blouse was the latest Grantville fashion, a more or less up-time style made of heavier down-time fabric. She wore riding skorts and leather boots. And a gunbelt, although hers was the neat black polizei type. Katharina wasn't sure what to think of her. She couldn't help feeling dubious about a woman in what was essentially a mercenary company.

Neustatter was very perceptive. "She's quite good." He didn't sound offended.

"I'm sorry, Miss Schäubin," Katharina apologized. "I've never met a lady soldier before."

Astrid surprised her in return. "I've never met a lady theologian before."

Katharina smiled. "Fair enough. But that's not really what I am."

"Me, either," Astrid noted. "As Herr Neustatter said, you and Miss Kellarmännin are my principals."

"Does it bother the men?" Katharina asked before she could stop herself. "That you're a bodyguard?"

"Sometimes. It worries my brother, and some of the men have their doubts."

"Me, too. Being in the Bibelgesellschaft, I mean. Some people don't take us seriously. Come meet Barbara. She's outside."

The two of them left, still comparing notes in being a woman in what was usually a man's job.

Neustatter looked at Green and Kircher. "That worked out nicely."

Once outside, Katharina saw that the rest of the Bibelgesellschaft members who were going to Jena had arrived.

"Barbara!" Astrid called. "This is Miss Astrid Schäubin. She is our bodyguard."

"Miss Kellarmännin."

Barbara giggled. "I'm not anyone important. Only teachers call me Fräulein. I'm Barbara."

That was undoubtedly a good idea, Katharina thought. "And I'm Katharina."

"Then you must call me Astrid."

"I don't think I've met anyone named Astrid before," Barbara said.

"It's Danish. My family settled in Holstein long ago. We lived there before the men went off to war."

"Did you go with them?"

"No, after they first came to Grantville they came back and got their families. We all came to Grantville then."

Katharina waited for the rest of the story, but evidently that was everything Astrid intended to say on the matter.

Hjalmar reappeared with two other men. One of them was a big man. He had a smile on his face, which was a good thing, Katharina thought, or else he would look really intimidating. The other man was . . . average in all respects. Katharina tried to study him carefully, because she thought she'd probably forget and mistake him for a passerby. Neustatter introduced them as Karl Recker and Otto Brenner respectively. Georg had loaded everyone's luggage already, so they climbed aboard the wagon. Kircher and Green seated themselves on the bench next to Georg, while the students sat on the benches along the sides of the wagon. Katharina was right behind Georg with Barbara next to her and then Markus and Guenther. Johann and Mattheus were across from them on the right side.

So much for interdenominationalism, Katharina noted.

Neustatter and his team each had horses. Hjalmar and Neustatter rode ahead of the wagon while Karl, Otto, and Astrid brought up the rear. There was enough other traffic on the road that outriders would just get in the way.

Georg half-turned his head. "So what do you think of your bodyguard, Katharina?"

"She's . . . interesting," Katharina said quietly. "She's the only woman who works for Neustatter. It's kind of like being a girl in the Bibelgesellschaft, I think."

"She is the team leader's sister, yes?"

"Schaub, Schäubin," Katharina pointed out. "Of course."

"Some women have been following the up-time custom of taking their husband's names," Georg said mildly. "But since they have the same chin and jawline, I assumed they ...