[A] Kermess—A fair.
"So! there is a Kermess at Niedersdorf?"
"Ach, Himmel!—a famous Kermess. All the world is there to-day."
And with a nod, he passed on his way.
My new friend indulged in a long and dismal whistle.
"Der Teufel!" he said, "this is awkward. I'll be bound, now, there won't be a vacant room at any inn in the town. And I had intended to sleep at Niedersdorf to-night. Had you?"
"Well, I should have been guided by circumstances. I should perhaps have put up at Niedersdorf, if I had found myself tired and the place comfortable; or I might have dined there, and after dinner taken some kind of light vehicle as far as Rotheskirche."
"Rotheskirche!" he repeated. "Where is that?"
"It is a village on the Neckar. My guide-book mentions it as a good starting-point for pedestrians, and I am going to walk from there to Heidelberg."
"But have you not been coming out of your way?"