Illa.—"Ah, yes! She would have done her best to cure even her greatest enemy, for the holy Saviour had said, 'Bless them that curse you; do good to them that hate you; pray for them that persecute you.' To such commands of her Lord she had ever been a faithful servant, and therefore searched out of her cookery-book for a sympatheticum, but for thanks, lo, now what she gets! Such was the way of this wicked world. Perhaps my gracious lord would like to know of the sympatheticum; she would say it for him, if he wished."
"Keep it to yourself, woman," roared Duke Francis, "and tell us why you burned my father's letter?"
Illa.—"Because, in truth, she deemed it a forgery. How could she believe a knave who had already deceived his own gracious Prince? For did not this base sheriff appropriate to his own use eleven mares, one hundred sheep, sixteen head of cattle, and forty-two boars, all the property of his Highness, to the great detriment of the princely revenue. Item, at the last cattle sale he had put three hundred florins into his own bag, and many more evil deceits had this wicked cheat practised."
"Keep to the question," cried Duke Philip, "and answer only what you are asked. What was that matter concerning the priest which caused you to complain of him to our princely consistorium?"
Illa.—"Ay! and no notice taken, though it was a scandal that cried to Heaven, how this licentious young carl was admitted into the convent as chaplain, when the regulations especially declared that an honourable old man should hold the office. She prayed, therefore, that another priest might be appointed."
Hereat my worthy father-in-law, Dr. Cramer, said, "Good lady, be not so hasty; from all we have heard, this priest is a right worthy and discreet young man."
Illa.—"Right worthy and discreet, truly! as her old maid could testify; or the abbess, with whom he locked himself up; or Dorothea Stettin, with whom he was discovered behind the holy altar. Fie! The scandal that such a fellow should be convent chaplain! and that a Christian government should suffer it!" (spitting three times on the ground.)
The Duke.—"The inquiry concerning him was pending. For what cause had she forced herself into the sub-prioret?"
Illa.—"She! Forced herself! Forced herself into the sub-prioret! What devil had invented this story? Why, the abbess and the whole convent were witness that she was forced into it; for as Dorothea Stettin was ashamed after that business behind the altar when she was discovered with the priest—besides, was a weak, silly thing at all times—she had consented to relieve her from the sub-prioret at her (Dorothea's) earnest supplication and prayer."
The Duke.—"Wherefore had she treated the novices with such cruelty, and run at them with axes and knives, to do them grievous bodily harm?"