ever. His Majesty heard me also in this, for in less than two
years I was so afflicted myself that the illness which I had,
though of a different kind from that of the sister, was, I really
believe, not less painful and trying for the three years it
lasted, as I shall now relate.

5. When the time had come for which I was waiting in the place I
spoke of before [1]--I was in my sister's house, for the purpose
of undergoing the medical treatment--they took me away with the
utmost care of my comfort; that is, my father, my sister, and the
nun, my friend, who had come from the monastery with me,--for her
love for me was very great. At that moment, Satan began to
trouble my soul; God, however, brought forth a great blessing out
of that trouble.

6. In the place to which I had gone for my cure lived a priest of
good birth and understanding, with some learning, but not much.
I went to confession to him, for I was always fond of learned
men, although confessors indifferently learned did my soul much
harm; for I did not always find confessors whose learning was as
good as I could wish it was. I know by experience that it is
better, if the confessors are good men and of holy lives, that
they should have no learning at all, than a little; for such
confessors never trust themselves without consulting those who
are learned--nor would I trust them myself: and a really learned
confessor never deceived me. [2] Neither did the others
willingly deceive me, only they knew no better; I thought they
were learned, and that I was not under any other obligation than
that of believing them, as their instructions to me were lax, and
left me more at liberty--for if they had been strict with me, I