Sidonia The Sorceress, vol 2 | Page 3

little hose for him, as you
see; indeed, I am often tempted to wonder how the Lord God could
permit the poor animals to appear naked before us."
_Hæc_ (extending her arms for joy, so that she almost tumbled back off
the stool).--"Oh, God be praised and thanked, at last I have found one
chaste soul in this wicked world! (sobs, throws up her eyes, falls upon
Sidonia's neck, kisses her, and weeps over her:) ah yes, one chaste soul
at last, like herself!"
_Illa._--"True, Dorothea, there is no virtue so rare in this evil world as
chastity. Ah, why has the Lord God placed such things before our eyes?
I never can comprehend it, and never will. What a sight for a chaste
virgin these naked animals! What did the dear sister think on the
matter?"
_Hæc._--"Ah, she knew not what to think, had asked the priest about
it."
_Illa._--"And what did he say?"
_Hæc._--"He laughed at her."
_Illa._--"Just like him, the lewd, hypocritical pharisee."
_Hæc._--"Eh? she was too hard on the good priest. He was a pure and
upright servant of God."

_Illa._--"Ay, as Judas was. Had not sister Dorothea heard----"
_Hæc._--"No; for God's sake, what? The dear sister frightened her
already."
_Illa._--"First, you confess that the priest laughed when you talked
about chastity?"
_Hæc._--"Yes, true, ah, indeed true."
_Illa._--"Then you remember that he preached a sermon lately upon
adul--upon adul--. No, she never could utter the word--the horrible
word. Upon the seventh commandment, to the great scandal of the
entire convent?"
_Hæc._--"Ah yes, ah yes, she was there, and had to stop one ear with
her finger, the other with her kerchief, not to hear all the strange and
dreadful things he was saying."
_Illa._--"And yet this was the man that ran in and out of the cloister
daily at his pleasure, sent for or not--a young unmarried man--though
the convent rules especially declared an old man. Ah, if she were
sub-prioress, this scandal should never be permitted."
_Hæc_.--"What could be done? it was a blessed thing to live in peace.
Besides, the priest was such a pious man."
Illa.--"Pious? Heaven defend us from such piety! Why, had she not
heard?--the whole convent talked about it."
_Hæc_.--"No, no; for God's sake, what had happened? tell her--she had
been making sausages all the morning, and had heard nothing."
Illa.--"Then know, ah God, how it pained her to talk of it--she had
heard a great noise in the kitchen in the morning, as if all the pots and
pans were tumbled about, and when she ran in to see--there was the
priest--oh, her chaste eyes never had seen such a sight--the pious priest
making love to her old maid, Wolde."

_Hæc_.--"Impossible, impossible!--to her old maid, Wolde?"
Illa.-"Yea, and he was praying her for kisses, and praising her fat hand,
and extolling her white hair. But as to what more she had seen----"
_Hæc_.--"For God's sake, sister, what more?"
Illa (sighing, and covering her face with both hands).--"No, no, that she
could never bring her chaste lips to utter. Oh, that such wickedness
should be in the world (weeping bitterly). But she would never enter
the chapel again, and that priest there; nor receive the rites from him.
But this was not all; the dear sister must hear how he revenged himself
upon her, because she interrupted his toying with the old hag. It was
truth, all truth! She (Sidonia) grew so ill with fright and horror that she
was unable to disrobe, and threw herself on the bed just as she was, but
growing weaker and weaker hour by hour, sent for the priest at last, to
pray with her, and afterwards to offer up general supplication for her
restoration, in the chapel with all the sisterhood; but only think, the
shameless hypocrite refused to pray with her, because he spied an end
of her black robe out of the bed, declaring she was not ill at all, that she
was a base liar, all because she had lain down in her convent dress, and
finally went his way cursing and swearing, without even saying one
prayer, or uttering one word of comfort, as was his duty. And now, alas!
she must die without priest or sacrament! To what a Sodom and
Gomorrah she had come! But if an old hag like her maid was not safe
from the shameless parson, how could she or any of them be safe?
What was to be done? unless the dear sister, as sub-prioress, took the
matter in her own hands, and brought him to task about it?"
At this proposal the other trembled like an aspen leaf, and seemed more
dead than alive. She wept, wrung her hands--for God's sake what could
she do? how could she talk on such a matter? Let