and crying sadly, sank down behind the chimney. Several years afterwards,
when the circumstances of the marquess had been much reduced by war and
the failure of his crops, a Florentine gentleman visited the castle, with
the intention of purchasing it, in consequence of the beauty of the
situation. The marquess, who was very anxious to have the bargain
concluded, gave his wife directions to lodge the stranger in the same
upper room in which the old woman had died, it having, in the meantime,
been very handsomely fitted up; but, to their consternation, in the middle
of the night, the stranger entered their room, pale and agitated,
protesting loudly that the chamber was haunted by some invisible being;
for that he had heard something rise up in the corner, as if it had been
lying among straw, move over the chamber with slow and tottering steps,
and sink down, groaning and crying, near the chimney.

The marquess, terrified, though he scarcely knew why, endeavoured to put a
fair face upon the matter, and to laugh off the fears of his visiter,
telling him he would rise himself, and spend the rest of the night with
him in his room; but the stranger begged that he would rather allow him to
occupy a couch in the adjoining room; and as soon as morning broke, he
saddled his horse, took his leave, and departed. This occurrence, which
occasioned much notice, made so unpleasant an impression upon intending
purchasers, that not another inquiry was made; and at last, even the
servants in the house becoming possessed with the notion that there was
something dreadful in the room, the marquess, with the view of setting the
report to rest, determined to investigate the matter himself next night.
Accordingly, in the twilight, he caused his bed to be brought to the
apartment, and waited, without sleeping, the approach of midnight. But
what was his consternation, when, on the stroke of midnight, he actually
heard some inconceivable noise in the apartment, as if some person had
risen up from among straw, which rustled beneath them, walked slowly over