“Spare the offering, let the sacrifice go free!” he said, with a thundering voice.  “You have called me, and I am here!  I am the devil!”

“The devil! it is truly the devil!” and, with timid glances, they looked up at the giant figure, clothed in crimson, his face completely shaded by a wide-brimmed hat, from which three crimson feathers waved majestically:  these, with his terrible club-foot, all gave unmistakable evidence of the presence of Satan.  They believed truly in him, these pious children of God; they remained upon their knees and stammered their prayers, scarcely knowing themselves if they were addressed to God or to the devil.

There in the little cabinet stood Louise von Kleist, trembling with mirth, and with great effort suppressing an outburst of laughter.  She looked with wicked and mocking eyes upon her husband, who lay shivering and deadly pale at the feet of the devil and the black ram.  He fixed his pleading glances upon the fiery monster who was to him indeed the devil.  Louise, however, fully understood this scene; she it was who had induced young Fredersdorf to assume this part, and had assisted him in his disguise.

“This moment repays me, avenges me for all I have suffered by the side of this silly and extravagant fool,” said Louise to herself.  “Oh, I will mock him, I will martyr him with this devil’s work.  The whole world shall know of it, and, from this time forth, I shall be justified and pitied.  No one will be surprised that I am not constant to my husband, that I cannot love him.”

Whilst the pious-elect still rested upon their knees in trembling adoration, the priest Pfannenschmidt had recovered from his surprise and alarm.  He, who did not believe in the devil, although he daily addressed him, knew that the monster before him was an unseemly jest or a malicious interruption.  He must, therefore, tear off his mask and expose him to the faithful.

With passionate energy he stretched out both his arms toward him.  “Away with you, you son of Baal!  Fly, fly, before I unmask you!  You are not what you appear.  You are no true devil!”

“How! you deny me, your lord and master?” cried the intruder, raising his hand covered with a crimson glove, against the priest.  “You have long called for me.  You have robbed these, my children, of their gold in order to propitiate me, and now that I am come, you will not confess me before men!  Perhaps you fear that these pious believers will no longer lavish their attentions and their gold upon you, and suffer you to lead them by the nose.  Go, go! you are not my high priest.  I listened to your entreaties, and I came, but only to prove to my children that you are a deceiver, and to free them from your yoke.  Away, you blasphemer of God and of the devil!  Neither God nor the devil accepts your service; away with you!” Saying this, he seized the astrologer with a powerful arm, and dragged him toward the altar.