We are ruin’d and undone, my child, said the abbess to Margarita ,⸺we shall be here all night⸺we shall be plunder’d⸺we shall be ravish’d⸺
⸺We shall be ravish’d, said Margarita , as sure as a gun.
Sancta Maria! cried the abbess (forgetting the O! )—why was I govern’d by this wicked stiff joint? why did I leave the convent of Andoüillets? and why didst thou not suffer thy servant to go unpolluted to her tomb?
O my finger! my finger! cried the novice, catching fire at the word servant —why was I not content to put it here, or there, anywhere rather than be in this strait?
Strait! said the abbess.
Strait⸺said the novice; for terror had struck their understandings⸺the one knew not what she said⸺the other what she answer’d.
O my virginity! virginity! cried the abbess.
⸺inity!⸺inity! said the novice, sobbing.