He died suddenly, and the priests and
friars thronged to take possession of his wealth; but nothing could
they find but a few ducats in a leathern purse. The worst luck has
fallen on me, for, since his death, the old fellow continues to occupy
my house without paying rent, and there is no taking the law of a dead
man. The people pretend to hear the clinking of gold all night in
the chamber where the old priest slept, as if he were counting over
his money, and sometimes a groaning and moaning about the court.
Whether true or false, these stories have brought a bad name on my
house, and not a tenant will remain in it."
"Enough," said the mason sturdily, "let me live in your house
rent-free until some better tenant present, and I will engage to put
it in repair, and to quiet the troubled spirit that disturbs it. I
am a good Christian and a poor man, and am not to be daunted by the
Devil himself, even though he should come in the shape of a big bag of
money!"
The offer of the honest mason was gladly accepted; he moved with his
family into the house, and fulfilled all his engagements. By little
and little he restored it to its former state; the clinking of gold
was no more heard at night in the chamber of the defunct priest, but
began to be heard by day in the pocket of the living mason. In a word,
he increased rapidly in wealth, to the admiration of all his
neighbors, and became one of the richest men in Granada: he gave large
sums to the church, by way, no doubt, of satisfying his conscience,
and never revealed the secret of the vault until on his deathbed to
his son and heir.
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