CHAPTER XXX.

Of a short interval of rest which God once granted him.

GOD had accustomed him to this, that as soon as one suffering left him another was ready at hand to take its place; and in this way God played with him unintermittingly. Once only He allowed him an interval of rest; but it did not last long.

During this season of inaction he came to a nunnery, and, being asked by his spiritual children how things went with him, he replied:—I fear they are going very ill with me at present, and for this reason. It is now four weeks since any one has attacked me in my person 134or my good name, quite unlike what used to happen to me; so that I fear lest God has for gotten me. Now he had not sat long with them at the grate when there came a brother of the Order, who called him out, and said:—I was a little while ago at a castle, and the lord of it asked after you, where you were, and he did this very savagely. And then he lifted up his hands, and swore before every one that wherever he found you, he would run a sword through you. The same thing was also done by several fierce soldiers, his kinsmen, and they have been searching for you in different monasteries round about in order to execute their evil designs upon you. Be warned, therefore, and take care of yourself, as you love your life.

The Servitor was struck with terror at these words, and said to the brother:—I should be very glad to hear what I have done to deserve the penalty of death. He answered:—The lord of the castle has been told that you have misled his daughter, as well as many other persons, into a particular kind of life, to which the name of spirit is given, and that those who follow it are called spirits; and he has been assured that they are the most abandoned set on the face of the earth. But more 135than this. There was another ferocious man there, who said of you:—He has robbed me of a dear wife. She draws her veil down now, and will no longer look at me. She will only look inwards. He is the cause of this, and he shall pay for it.

When the Servitor heard this tale, he replied:—Praised be God! and hastening back immediately to the grate, said to his daughters:—Be of good cheer, my children. God has been mindful of me, and has not forgotten me. Then he told them the cruel tale, how that men were seeking to return him evil for the good that he had done.