Sweetmeats and wines were then brought in, and while partaking of them
the two abbesses talked together, of cloister affairs, and of the wicked
world; and the Devil, with a deep sigh, turned the discourse to Clara's
accident. Clara, who, on account of her rank, was the pet-lamb of the
cloister, stood near the abbess, and laughed beneath her veil. Faustus
observed this, and, looking at her, really thought he had never seen a
more charming rogue wear the sacred veil. The Devil at length gave the
conversation a serious turn, and led the abbess to conclude that he had
something weighty to confide to her.

_Abbess_ (_to Clara_). You may go, my lamb, to the nuns in the garden,
and divert yourself with them; I will send you out some sweetmeats, so
that you may celebrate the coming of our venerable sister.

Clara bounded away. After a few words, which the Devil uttered in a
disturbed and thoughtful kind of tone, so that he might thereby arouse
the curiosity of the abbess, he came to the point.

_Devil_. Ah, dear sister, how much do I pity you! It is true, and that
ought in some degree to comfort you, that the whole city and the entire
district are convinced of your holiness, your piety, and the strictness
of your discipline. In a word, you possess all the virtues requisite for
a bride of heaven. But, alas, the world will be the world still; and the
Fiend often infuses evil thoughts into the minds of worldly men, so that
through them he may disturb those saints who are thorns in his side. No,
no; the wicked Devil cannot bear that you should bring up your lambs in
untainted purity. I pity you, as I said before, and still more the
little innocents who are at present confided to your care. What will
become of them when they lose you?

_Abbess_. Kind sister, be of good cheer; though I am old, I am yet,
thanks to Heaven, sound and hearty, and the little inconveniences which
attend a uniform course of devotion and penitence prolong life rather
than shorten it. So, at least, the physician of the convent tells me
when I complain to him.

The Devil looked at her attentively.

"Have you, then, had no anticipation of what is hanging over your head?
no warning vision? Has nothing occurred in the convent to make you look
forward to the future with anxiety? It is customary for pious souls to
be informed by certain signs when any disaster menaces them."

_Abbess_. You frighten me so, that I tremble in my whole body. But