f the demon.

She smiled and said: "It is true I was once a cloistered woman, but I
will never willingly be one again. Now drive me forth if you like; but
I cannot go far, for I have a wounded foot, which I got in climbing the
cliff with water for your garden." And she pointed to a deep cut in her
foot.

At that, for all his fear, the Hermit was moved to pity, and washed the
cut and bound it up; and as he did so he bethought him that perhaps his
strange visitor had been sent to him not for his soul's undoing but for
her own salvation. And from that hour he earnestly yearned to save her.

But it was not fitting that she should remain in his cave; so, having
given her water to drink and a handful of lentils, he raised her up and
putting his staff in her hand guided her to a hollow not far off in the
face of the cliff. And while he was doing this he heard the sunset
bells ring across the valley, and set about reciting the _Angelus
Domini nuntiavit Mariae_; and she joined in very piously, with her
hands folded, not missing a word.

Nevertheless the thought of her wickedness weighed on him, and the next
day when he went to carry her food he asked her to tell him how it came
about that she had fallen into such abominable sin. And this is the
story she told.

IV

I WAS born (said she) in the north country, where the winters are long
and cold, where snow sometimes falls in the valleys, and the high
mountains for months are white with it. My father's castle is in a tall
green wood, where the winds always rustle, and a cold river runs down
from the ice-gorges. South of us was the wide plain, glowing with heat,
but above us were stony passes where the eagle nests and the storms
howl; in winter great fires roared in our chimneys, and even in summer
there was always a cool air off the gorges. But when I was a child my
mother went southward in the great Empress's train and I went with her.
We travelled many days, across plains and mountains, and saw Rome,
where the Pope lives in a golden palace, and many other cities, till we
came to the great Emperor's court. There for two years or more we lived
in pomp and merriment, for it was a wonderful court, full of mimes,
magicians, philosophers and poets; and the Empress's ladies spent their
days in mirth and music, dressed in light silken garments, walking in
gardens of roses, and bathing in a great cool marble tank, while the
Emperor's eunuchs guarded the approach to the gardens.