The office had some resemblance to that of a sexton, for he spent most of it among the dead in the silence of desertion, never seeing anyone till his watch was finished.

He had ended by becoming used to it, and it had cured him of many fears he had in his youth.
Before, he had believed in the resurrection of the dead, in souls, and the apparitions of saints.

But now he laughed at all that.

Whole years he had carried on this night work in the Cathedral, and if he heard anything it was only the scampering of rats, who respected neither saints nor altars, for after all they were only wood! He only feared men of flesh and blood, those robbers who in former times had more than once entered the Cathedral, obliging the Chapter to establish this night vigilance.
He entertained Gabriel with the account of all the attempts at robbery which had happened during the century.

In the Cathedral was enough wealth to tempt a saint, Madrid was near, and he much feared the "swell" thieves.