He might have taken possession of the shop on the market-place directly
after his father's death, but could not arrange his departure so quickly,
and it was fully eight months before he left Nuremberg.

On the high-road before Schwabach a wagon, occupied by some strolling
performers, overtook the traveller. They belonged to the better class,
for they appeared before counts and princes, and were seven in number.
The father and four sons played the violin, viola and reboc, and the two
daughters sang to the lute and harp. The old man invited Adam to take
the eighth place in the vehicle, so he counted his pennies, and room was
made for him opposite Flora, called by her family Florette. The
musicians were going to the fair at Nordlingen, and the smith enjoyed
himself so well with them, that he remained several days after reaching
the goal of the journey. When he at last went away Florette wept, but he
walked straight on until noon, without looking back. Then he lay down
under a blossoming apple-tree, to rest and eat some lunch, but the lunch
did not taste well; and when he shut his eyes he could not sleep, for he
thought constantly of Florette. Of course! He had parted from her far
too soon, and an eager longing seized upon him for the young girl, with
her red lips and luxuriant hair. This hair was a perfect golden-yellow;
he knew it well, for she had often combed and braided it in the tavern-
room beside the straw where they all slept.

He yearned to hear her laugh too, and would have liked to see her weep
again.

Then he remembered the desolate smithy in the narrow market-place and the
dreary home, recollected that he was thirty years old, and still had no
wife.