I will buy it from you on the spot . ' ` Oh , the dirty creature is quite mad ! ' thought the gentleman . ' I shall just accept his offer for a joke . ' And aloud he said : ' All right ; follow me , and we will go to a lawyer and get him to make a contract . ' And Don Giovanni followed him , and an agreement was drawn up by which the house was to be sold at once , and a large sum of money paid down in eight days . Then the Don went to an inn , where he hired two rooms , and , standing in one of them , said to his purse , ' Dear purse , fill this room with gold ; ' and when the eight days were up it was so full you could not have put in another sovereign . When the owner of the house came to take away his money Don Giovanni led him into the room and said : ` There , just pocket what you want . ' The gentleman stared with open mouth at the astonishing sight ; but he had given his word to sell the house , so he took his money , as he was told , and went away with his wife to look for some place to live in . And Don Giovanni left the inn and dwelt in the beautiful rooms , where his rags and dirt looked sadly out of place . And every day these got worse and worse . By-and-bye the fame of his riches reached the ears of the king , and , as he himself was always in need of money , he sent for Don Giovanni , as he wished to borrow a large sum . Don Giovanni readily agreed to lend him what he wanted , and sent next day a huge waggon laden with sacks of gold . ` Who can he be ? ' thought the king to himself . ` Why , he is much richer than I ! ' The king took as much as he had need of ; then ordered the rest to be returned to Don Giovanni , who refused to receive it , saying , ` Tell his majesty I am much hurt at his proposal . I shall certainly not take back that handful of gold , and , if he declines to accept it , keep it yourself . ' The servant departed and delivered the message , and the king wondered more than ever how anyone could be so rich . At last he spoke to the queen : ` Dear wife , this man has done me a great service , and has , besides , behaved like a gentleman in not allowing me to send back the money .
I wish to give him the hand XXXXX our eldest daughter . '
At as besides from in into like of up with