And how loving and hearty was the welcome given me by my lover's parents,
when they received me in their noble dwelling, and called me their dear
daughter, and showed me all the treasures contained in the home of the
Hallers'. In this fine house, with its broad fair gardens--a truly
lordly dwelling, for which many a prince would have been fain to exchange
his castle and hunting demesne--I was to rule as wife and mistress at the
right hand of my Hans' mother, whose kind and dignified countenance
pleased me well indeed, and by whose friendly lips I, an orphan, was so
glad to be called "Child" and daughter. Nor were his worshipful father
and his younger brethren one whit less dear to me. I was to become a
member--nay, as the eldest son's wife, the female head--of one of the
highest families in the town, of one whose sons would have a hand in its
government so long as there should be a town-council in Nuremberg.

My lover had indeed been elected to sit in the minor council soon after
his homecoming, being no longer a boy, but near on thirty years of age.
And his manners befitted his years; dignified and modest, albeit cheerful
and full of a young man's open-minded ardor for everything that was above
the vulgar. With him, for certain, if with any man, might I grow to be
all I desired to become; and could I but learn to rule my fiery temper,
I might hope to follow in the ways of his mother, whom he held above all
other women. The great dance, of which I have already made mention, and
whither Ann had agreed to come with us, was the first I should go to with
my well-beloved Hans. The worshipful Council had taken care to display
all their best bravery in honor of the Emperor's envoys; they had indeed
allied themselves with the constable of the Castle, the Prince Elector,
to do all in their power to have the Assembly held at Nuremberg, rather
than at Ratisbon, and to that end it was needful to win the good graces
of the Ambassadors.