Margaret.
Thou best of men, if I but look on thee,
All will deserts me to thy wish untrue;
So much already have I done for thee
That now scarce aught remains for me to do. [Exit.
Enter Mephistopheles.
Mephistopheles.
Well, is the monkey gone?
Faust.
And you—must I
Submit again to see you play the spy?
Mephistopheles.
I have been duly advertised
How Doctor Faust was catechised:
I hope it will agree with you.
The girls are wont—they have their reasons too—
To see that one, in every point, believes
The faith, that from his fathers he receives.
They think, if little mettle here he shows,
We too may lead him by the nose.
Faust.
Thou monster! dost not know how this fond soul,
Who yields her being’s whole
To God, and feels and knows
That from such faith alone her own salvation flows,
With many an anxious holy fear is tossed,
Lest he, whom best she loves, should be forever lost?
Mephistopheles.
Thou super-sensual sensual fool,
A silly girl takes thee to school!
Faust.
Thou son of filth and fire, thou monster, thou!
Mephistopheles.
And then her skill in reading faces
Is not the least of all her graces!
When I come near, she feels, she knows not how,
And through my mask can read it on my brow
That I must be, if not the very Devil,
A genius far above the common level.
And now to-night—
Faust.
What’s that to thee?
Mephistopheles.
What brings my master joy, brings joy to me.
Scene VI.
At the Well.
Margaret and Eliza, with water-pitchers.
Eliza.
Have you heard nought of Barbara?
Margaret.
