eress entered, told the licentious story, and added, that the
Dominican, whose name she had forgot, would certainly be burnt alive, for
that the Chapter had even then assembled for the purpose of trying him.
Whilst the porteress was relating the tale with its various
circumstances, the faces of the young nuns were violently flushed, and
Sin, who never loses an opportunity of corrupting innocent hearts, shot
into their blood, and hastily pictured the dangerous scene to their
imaginations. Fury and consternation, in the mean time, deformed the
features of the old ones. The abbess trembled and leaned on her staff,
while the spectacles fell from her face. But when the porteress added,
that it was the sister Clara whom the fiend had brought to the Dominican
in his dream, a dreadful shriek filled the whole hall. Clara alone
remained tranquil, and when the uproar had ceased, she said, smiling:
"Dear sisters, why do you shriek so fearfully? I myself dreamt that I
passed the night with Father Gebhardt, my confessor; and if it was the
work of the fiend" (here she and all the rest made the sign of the
cross), "why, we must give him the discipline." "The Father Gebhardt!"
cried the porteress; "now, all ye saints and angels, that is the very
person who dreamt of you; that is he whom they are about to burn." The
porteress having thus expressed herself, this second version of the dream
was immediately circulated through the city. The Madonna was allowed to
remain naked, for the sisters cared now very little if the black nuns
bore away the palm. The abbess did all in her power to spread the news
abroad, the housekeeper followed her example, the porteress harangued an
audience beneath the gateway, and Clara candidly replied to the yet more
candid questions of her companions. The last trumpet could not have
diffused in Mayence more terror and confusion than did this extraordinary
tale.

No sooner did the Dominican prior hear of this accident than he ran to
the assembled Chapter, and gave, by his information, a new turn to the
affair. The Archbishop would willingly have suppressed the whole
business; but it was now time for the Chapter to take it up, and all the
canons were unanimously of opinion, that so strange a circumstance ought
to be communicated to the Holy Father at Rome. They now became
infuriated, and nothing but the midday bell had power to separate them.
From that moment, all Mayence, clergy and laity, divided into