as you never have any amusement here, he shall bring him to
you."

"No, no, I do not wish it," says Angela. "All the thoughts which come to
me, now are of mortal sadness--my disquietude returns."

Angela, seeing that the mulatto would not eat any more, arose; the
filibuster imitated her, and says, "Reassure yourself, my Angela, there
is nothing to fear. Come into the garden, the night is fine, the moon
magnificent. Tell Mirette to bring my lute; in order to make you forget
these painful thoughts I will sing you the Scotch ballads you love so."

So saying, the mulatto passes one arm around the figure of Angela, and
clasping her thus, he descends the few steps leading to the garden. On
leaving the apartment Blue Beard says to her slave, "Mirette, bring the
lute into the garden, light the alabaster lamp in my bed-chamber. You
can go, I shall not need you again to-night. Do not forget to say to
Cora and to the other mulattresses that to-morrow begins their service."
Then she disappears, leaning on the arm of the mulatto. This last order
of Angela was occasioned by a habit she has had, since her last
widowhood, of alternating every three days the service of her women.

Mirette carries a very beautiful ebony lute incrusted with gold and
mother of pearl, into the garden. After an interval of some moments, the
filibuster's voice is heard singing with infinite grace and pathos the
Scotch ballads which the chief of royalist clans always sang in
preference during the protectorate of Cromwell. The voice of the mulatto
is at once sweet, vibrant and melancholy.

Mirette and the two slaves listen with delight during some moments. At
the last lines, the voice of the filibuster becomes moved, tears seem to
mingle in it--then the songs cease.

Mirette enters Blue Beard's chamber in order to light the alabaster
lamp, which throws a soft and veiled light on the surrounding objects.
This room is splendidly furnished in Indian stuff with white ground
embroidered with flowers; a mosquito net of muslin, fine as a spider's
web, envelopes an immense bed of gilded wood with a headboard of
plate-glass, which appears thus in a slight mist.

After executing the orders of her mistress, Mirette withdraws
discreetly, and says to the two slaves with a malicious smile, "Mirette
lights the lamp for the captain, Cora for the buccanneer, and Noun for
the Caribbean."

The two slaves nod their heads with an intelligent air, and the three go
out, afte