"This was your portion from her mother; now comes the dowry from her father."
And he brought forth the casks full of gold, and poured their costly contents over the head of his son-in-law. The heaps of money came up to the victim's shoulders, only his head was still free.
"Miserere, mei Domine——" resounded from the lips of the man buried alive in gold.
"Ha, ha," laughed Lord Grazian, "so you want a song. Shall I sing you one? How do you like this: 'Gemitus mortis,—dolores inferni—circumdederunt me. Perhaps you like this better:—'Yesterday I went to town and heard the matins read. Now the priest who read the matins has become my lover'—You don't want any more of that, then here's one: 'In paradisum ne ducant te angeli—Kyrie eleison'—ha ha ha!"
Then he seized his torch and hobbled off through the passage, continuing to mix popular songs with litany.
That diabolical laughter was the last sound of the night in this subterranean cavern.
CHAPTER XVI.
THE FEAST OF DEATH.
This Master Mathias was a very clever man—more clever than all the rest.