"Thou knowest it is so," he added, again clutching forth the rosary from his bosom, which, after gazing upon a rude personification of the Virgin, stamped upon a tiny plate of copper at the end of the string of beads, and devoutly making the sign of the cross, he returned to its usual depository. "I have cried against the handmaid of Beelzebub--uttering cry for cry as she shrieked out her wretched soul. I have prayed earnestly and long, and I am athirst," continued the cripple, as he dragged his distorted limbs with difficulty over the rough stones towards a large covered well, which occupied the lower part of the market-place. As the beggar approached the parapet of the well, to drink from one of the buckets which reposed upon its edge, he became first aware of the presence of another human being. Half-concealed behind one of the twisted columns that supported the Gothic pavilion above, sat upon the parapet a female figure, dressed in a black garb of such a form and nature, that, without being the exact costume of any known religious order, it bore a monastic character. Her face, as she sat with her head bent down over her clasped hands, in an attitude of mournful humiliation, was fully concealed by a black hood. But when, upon the approach of the beggar, she started up hastily, as if impelled by feelings of horror and disgust, the moon shone full upon her, and revealed the features of a woman of an advanced period of life, who formerly might have possessed much beauty, although now so washed out by tears, and furrowed by sorrow, that the whole character of her face was changed. Her years, too, were probably very much fewer than her appearance denoted, for the signs of age upon her face bore less the marks of time than of mental suffering. The symptoms of aversion which her manner displayed upon the beggar's approach, although instinctive and involuntary, and almost immediately restrained, had not escaped his eye. His features expressed the bitter resentment of his heart at this insult, and worked with ill-repressed feelings of anger and spite. "Ha! Mother Magdalena--it is thou! Why flinchest thou at my approach? Hast thou cause to fear me, then?" exclaimed the cripple with a sneer, as he drew nearer. The female thus addressed shuddered at the sound of his voice; and, hastily pulling her dark hood more closely over her face, endeavoured to pass on without reply; but the beggar caught her by the arm. "Not so fast, beldam!" he cried. "I would have a word with thee. Dost thou not know me?" "Not know thee!" exclaimed the dark female. "Who in this wretched town does not know Schwartzer Claus, the witchfinder? What wouldst thou with me? Let me go!" "Why dost thou tremble, then, and turn away thy head?" continued the cripple. "Why does Black Claus, the witchfinder--since such thou callest me--make thee shudder thus in every limb? The innocent have no cause to fear."