ter than staying at home with you and starving?"

But the wife heard him not; for she stood with her rich robes and jewels
before the looking-glass to see how they became her. The little girls
frolicked around her, took up the clothes and ornaments she had laid
aside, and aped the mother. In the mean time a servant brought in a
substantial breakfast, the children fell upon it, cried and shouted with
joy; but the mother had, in the mean time, forgotten her hunger.

The old father took Faustus aside, and said, "If thou hast obtained all
these things by honourable means, let us thank God, my son, and enjoy his
bounty; but for some nights past I have had horrible dreams, although I
hope they were merely caused by our necessities."

This remark of the old man sank deep into the heart of Faustus; but the
pleasure of seeing his children eat so heartily, and of observing with
what love and thankfulness his eldest son and favourite looked at him;
the thought of having relieved them from their misery; and, above all, an
inward longing for pleasure,--considerably damped the impression. The
Devil added a large sum to the money in the bag, presented the young wife
with a costly necklace, gave each of the children a trifle, and assured
the family that he would bring back Faustus to them safe, sound, and
wealthy at no very distant period.

Faustus, attended by the Devil, now went to see a friend, whom he found
much dejected. He asked him the cause of his unhappiness, and the other
replied:

"This afternoon the law-suit which you have often heard me speak of is to
be determined; and I am certain of losing it, although justice is on my
side. In short, Master Faustus, nothing remains for me to do but to beg,
or drown myself in the deepest part of the Rhine."

_Faustus_. How can you be certain that you will lose your cause, if
justice is for you, as you say it is?

_Friend_. But the five hundred gold guilders which my opponent has given
the Judge are against me; and if I cannot outbid him, I must fall to the
ground.

_Faustus_. Pooh! does it merely depend on that? Come, lead me to the
Judge. I have a friend here who willingly assists people out of such
difficulties.

They found the Judge to be a proud, inflated man, who would scarcely
deign to honour a poor client with a look. Faustus had long known him
for what he was. When they entered the room, the Judge, in an imperious
tone, thus addressed Faustus's friend, "Why