nd come storming and
swearing up the stairs into the great dining-hall. Then there entered a
tall and magnificently dressed gentleman, of very handsome and
distinguished appearance, but his face was deadly pale, his eyes had a
terrible gleam, and it seemed as if a light bluish flame flickered and
crept about him, ever rising and vanishing like small serpents.

"And entering, he began to scold and blaspheme in a diabolical manner, as
if at servants whom he was accustomed to have promptly at his call,
saying, '_Birbanti di servitori_--you scoundrelly waiters--you have not
got supper ready for me, nor laid the tables.' Saying this, he seized on
plates and glasses, and dashing them down violently, broke them in mad
rage. Then he entered the best bedroom in the house, where some one lay
asleep, and this man he maltreated and hurled forth, saying that the bed
was his own.

"And if after that any one dared to sleep in the old palazzo, he was
found there dead in the morning, or else lived but a few days. So it
came to pass that no one would inhabit it; nay, all the houses round
about began to be deserted, and the whole neighbourhood regarded it as a
pest. And from all this they were relieved by a marvellously strange
occurrence and a great miracle.

"There was a gentleman who was very pious, honourable, and brave, a good
man at every point, but wretchedly poor, so that he with his eight
children and wife had all been turned into the street, because he could
not pay his rent.

"Then in his distress he went to the city council and begged for some
kind of relief or employment; and they being much concerned at the time
about the haunted palazzo, knowing him to be a man who would face the
devil, with little to fear on account of his integrity, proposed to him
to occupy the building, adding that he and his family should every day be
supplied with food and wine gratis, and that if, as was generally
supposed, there was hidden treasure in the palace, and he could find it,
he should be welcome to keep it.

"To which this brave man willingly assented, and at once went his way to
the haunted palace. But while on the road he obtained olive sprigs,
salt, and frankincense, also certain images of saints, and then with much
holy water sprinkled all the rooms, stairs, and cellars, praying withal.
{33}

"And the first night there was again heard the grating of the key in the
lock, the crash of the door, the rapid heavy footfall, and