XXI.—WILY BEGUILED.
A thief went one night to the house of a rich man, and scaling the roof, peeped through a hole to see whether any part of the family were yet stirring. The master of the house, suspecting something, said secretly to his wife, "Ask me in a loud voice how I got my property, and do not stop until I bid you."
The woman complied, and began to shout, "My dear husband, pray tell me, since you never were a merchant, how you came by all the wealth you have."
"My love," answered her husband, "do not ask such foolish questions."
But she persisted in her inquiries; and at length, as if overcome by her urgency, he said, "Keep what I am going to tell you a secret, and you shall know."
"Oh! trust me."
"Well, then, you must know that I was a thief, and got what I now enjoy by nightly depredations."
"It is strange," said the wife, "that you were never taken."
"Why," he replied, "my master, who was a skilful clerk, taught me a particular word, which, when I went on the tops of people's houses, I pronounced, and thus escaped detection."
"Tell me, I conjure you," returned the lady, "what that powerful word was."