Mephistopheles determined to foster and encourage this passion, hoping to secure by means of it a second victim in the unconscious Margarita, whose innocent soul he longed to destroy; and late that evening, when darkening shadows were beginning to fall, he led the willing Faust to the humble cottage where the fair maiden dwelt.
As they approached the flower-laden garden, the young Siebel came forth and passed down the street; for this enthusiastic youth also loved Margarita, and came to leave flowers for her every evening. On this particular evening, however, he had had a strange experience, for each flower he plucked had withered in his hand, and remembering the words of the mysterious stranger he had met that afternoon, he had been filled with dismay. But suddenly he bethought himself to dip his fingers in a little bowl of holy water that was placed within the porch of Margarita's cottage; and then, to his joy, he found that the curse was powerless, and that the blossoms he gathered after this act remained fresh. So laying his offering as usual upon a seat outside the porch, he came away; and immediately afterwards Faust and Mephistopheles entered the garden.
Noticing Siebel's flowers upon the rustic seat, Mephistopheles produced a casket of valuable jewels and placed it beside them; and then he withdrew with Faust, into the shadows, to watch the result.
Presently the lovely Margarita came forth into the garden with a pensive air; for she was thinking of the handsome young cavalier who had accosted her in the afternoon, and whose passionate glances of admiration had thrilled her through and through, and set her maiden heart throbbing so wildly. She soon noticed poor Siebel's flowers, and tenderly laid them aside with an indulgent smile; and then seeing the strange casket, she took it up wonderingly and opened it.
An exclamation of childish delight escaped her on beholding the dazzling jewels within, and unable to resist the temptation of adorning herself with them, she tremblingly clasped the pretty baubles about her snowy neck and arms. A little mirror had been artfully laid within the casket, and as she gazed at the reflection of herself thus loaded with glittering gems and ropes of priceless pearls, she wondered what her noble gallant would think if he could behold her now, adorned as a princess.
Just then Dame Martha, the worthy, but not very vigilant, guardian in whose charge Margarita had been left during her brother's absence at the wars, came forth from the cottage; and admiring the sparkling jewels—which Margarita, now ashamed of her momentary vanity, endeavoured to remove—she declared that they must have been sent by some noble adorer.
At this moment Faust and Mephistopheles came forth from the shadows to which they had retreated, and the latter, declaring to Martha that he had important news for her, soon enticed the dame, with many flattering phrases, to leave her precious charge and wander with him to one side.
Left alone with Margarita, Faust approached the beautiful maiden eagerly, and, unable to control his feelings any longer, passionately declared his love for her; and Margarita, though she resisted his advances for some time, at length gave way to the answering love in her own heart, and resigned herself to the tender embraces of the handsome cavalier.
After this the enraptured lovers frequently met; for the fiendish Mephistopheles continually encouraged and aided Faust in his passionate but lawless pursuit of Margarita, never once relaxing his demoniacal temptations until the ruin of the poor girl was assured, and her innocence destroyed.
The joys of a rapturous love were not long permitted to the betrayed Margarita, for as the months went on, and her dishonour became known, she had to submit to the scorn and sneers of her old companions, who showed little pity for the frailty of one whose virtue had always been held up to them as a pattern; and all avoided her, except the faithful Siebel, who still sought to bring comfort to the gentle maiden whom a true and tender love had led astray.