“And so, your reverence,” said she, after relating Elvira’s death and burial, with all their circumstances; “And so, your reverence, upon hearing the shriek, I put away my work, and away posted I to Donna Antonia’s chamber. Finding nobody there, I passed on to the next; but I must own, I was a little timorous at going in, for this was the very room where Donna Elvira used to sleep. However, in I went, and sure enough, there lay the young lady at full length upon the floor, as cold as a stone, and as white as a sheet. I was surprised at this, as your holiness may well suppose; but oh me! how I shook when I saw a great tall figure at my elbow whose head touched the ceiling! The face was Donna Elvira’s, I must confess; but out of its mouth came clouds of fire, its arms were loaded with heavy chains which it rattled piteously, and every hair on its head was a serpent as big as my arm! At this I was frightened enough, and began to say my Ave-Maria: but the ghost interrupting me uttered three loud groans, and roared out in a terrible voice, ‘Oh! That chicken’s wing! My poor soul suffers for it!’ As soon as she had said this, the ground opened, the spectre sank down, I heard a clap of thunder, and the room was filled with a smell of brimstone.