_Devil_. Contain yourself, dear sister. Help is to be found, and who knows but I bring it with me? Remember that it was the staff which the Archbishop presented to you upon your being consecrated an abbess which you broke; and now listen to me attentively. You know my cousin the prebend; well, he confided to me a very terrible affair. He indeed made me solemnly promise not to tell you; but I know it is best to commit a little sin, if by its means we can prevent a great one and confound the projects of Satan. _Abbess_. You are perfectly right; and the Fathers of the Church hold that doctrine, as my confessor has often told me. _Devil_. Know, then, that the Archbishop has so far got the upper hand of the Chapter, that he has brought them to consent to your being deposed after the lapse of a few months, and his niece Clara being made abbess in your stead. "Jesu Maria!" cried the abbess, wrung her hands, and fell into a swoon. The Devil made a sour face at her exclamation, and Faustus, laughing, rubbed her wrinkled brows. After she had recovered herself, she shed a torrent of tears, and shrieked a thousand curses against the wickedness of the world. _Devil_. Do not despair, dear sister. For a distant evil there is always a remedy. _Abbess_. And what do you advise me to do? Wretch that I am! O Heavens! what will become of me,--what will become of the nuns? _Devil_. I have already said that it is best to commit a slight sin if, by so doing, we prevent a great one, and you yourself have proved it by the authority of holy Fathers; but, dear sister, courage and understanding will be necessary, if you wish to obtain your purpose without danger to your own soul, by loading another person with the capital sin. _Abbess_. Ah, dear sister, and how is that to be contrived? _Devil_. I was once in our convent in almost a similar perplexity. The good Sister Agatha here is my witness; and as she saw every thing, and assisted me, we may speak out before her. Faustus bowed with humility. _Devil_. A nun who, by sinful wit, and yet more sinful beauty, had found favour among the great and powerful, was, by their assistance, on the point of rising above me. Ah! I have felt how grievous are the thoughts of being forced to obey, after one has for a long time exercised boundless power. Well, in the presence of Sister Agatha, I entered into a consultation with my relation the prebend: he is very knowing in affairs of conscience and crime, and understands to a hair's-breadth what is damnable and what is not. This wise man gave me a piece of advice which helped me out of my trouble, and for which I shall always have reason to bless him. I admit that the expedient at first appeared to me sinful; but he assured me, and proved to me out of the casuists, that a little fasting and penance would do away with all that was culpable in it. _Abbess_. But the advice--the advice! _Devil_. I am ashamed to tell it you aloud.