e.

They could not enough admire the magnificent apartments, and ran from
one to another praising everything they beheld.

But the young wife heeded nothing they said or did, all she thought
of was that little key which she must not use, wondering more and more
why she ought not to open that one particular door.

At last she could bear it no longer, but slipping away from her
visitors, she ran along the passages and stairs, nearly falling down
them, so great was her haste, until she came to that door at the end
of the corridor.

Not pausing an instant, she thrust the key into the lock, and the door
sprang open.

At first she could distinguish nothing, for the room was dark and
gloomy, but then, all of a sudden, she knew what had become of
Bluebeard's other wives, for there they lay, in a long, straight row,
all dead. She stood horrified for a moment or two, gazing at the
pale faces, and long hair spread out around them, then picking up
the little key which she had taken from the lock but dropped in her
fright, she hastily quitted the room, shut and locked the door, and
ran to her own chamber to calm herself before returning to her guests.
But she was unable to rest for an instant, so dreadful were her
feelings; then with terror she noticed that on the key there was a
stain. She wiped it with her handkerchief, but alas! it was blood that
would not be wiped away. She washed the key and rubbed it, and
scraped it and polished it, but all to no purpose, if she succeeded
in cleansing one side, the mark came out on the other. For the key was
enchanted.

[Illustration: _Painted by Jennie Harbour_
BLUEBEARD]

That same evening Bluebeard returned saying he had met the man whom
he was wanting to see, and so the long journey was unnecessary, and he
was rejoiced to be at home again.

Next morning he called for the keys; his wife brought them to him,
but not the little one; that she left behind. Bluebeard noticed this
directly and sent her to fetch it. Trembling, and white as a sheet,
she was forced to give it into his hand.

"Ha! what is this?" he cried, "what is this stain that I see!"

His poor wife trembled still more, and could not speak.

"Wretched woman!" shouted Bluebeard, "you have used this key, you have
unlocked the door of that room at the end of the passage. You shall
die!!!"

In vain did his wife plead with him to spare her, kneeling before him
with tears streaming from her eyes. "You shall die!" he cri