"
"That would I," said the friar; "for I have undertaken to make
her renounce the devil."
"She shall not renounce the devil," said the baron, "unless I please.
You are very ready with your undertakings. Will you undertake to make
her renounce the earl, who, I believe, is the devil incarnate?
Will you undertake that?"
"Will I undertake," said the friar, "to make Trent run westward,
or to make flame burn downward, or to make a tree grow with its head
in the earth and its root in the air?"
"So then," said the baron, "a girl's mind is as hard to change as nature and
the elements, and it is easier to make her renounce the devil than a lover.
Are you a match for the devil, and no match for a man?"
"My warfare," said the friar, "is not of this world.
I am militant not against man, but the devil, who goes about
seeking what he may devour."
"Oh! does he so?" said the baron: "then I take it that makes you look for him
so often in my buttery. Will you cast out the devil whose name is Legion,
when you cannot cast out the imp whose name is Love?"
"Marriages," said the friar, "are made in heaven. Love is God's work,
and therewith I meddle not."
"God's work, indeed!" said the baron, "when the ceremony was
cut short in the church. Could men have put them asunder,
if God had joined them together? And the earl is now no earl,
but plain Robert Fitz-Ooth: therefore, I'll none of him.
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