king his life, and
possessing themselves of his wealth, still further increased by his new
inheritance.

His young wife met him with a smiling face, allowing herself to be
embraced and led to the conjugal chamber, where she did everything to
please the good man. The following morning she returned him the bunch of
keys which had been confided to her care. But there was missing that of
the Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses, commonly called the little
Cabinet. Bluebeard gently demanded its delivery, and after putting him
off for a time on various pretexts Jeanne returned it to him.

There now arises a question which cannot be solved without leaving
the limited domain of history to enter the indeterminate regions of
philosophy.

Charles Perrault specifically states that the key of the little Cabinet
was a fairy key, that is to say, it was magical, enchanted, endowed with
properties contrary to the laws of nature, at all events, as we conceive
them. We have no proof to the contrary. This is a fitting moment to
recall the precept of my illustrious master, Monsieur du Clos des Lunes,
a member of the Institute: "When the supernatural makes its appearance,
it must not be rejected by the historian." I shall therefore content
myself with recalling as regards this key, the unanimous opinion of all
the old biographers of Bluebeard; they all affirm that it was a fairy
key. This is a point of great importance. Moreover, this key is not the
only object created by human industry which has proved to be endowed
with marvellous properties. Tradition abounds with examples of enchanted
swords. Arthur's was a magic sword. And so was that of Joan of Arc, on
the undeniable authority of Jean Chartier; and the proof afforded by
that illustrious chronicler is that when the blade was broken the two
pieces refused to be welded together again despite all the efforts of
the most competent armourers. Victor Hugo speaks in one of his poems of
those "magic stairways still obscured below." Many authors even admit
that there are men-magicians who can turn themselves into wolves. We
shall not undertake to combat such a firm and constant belief, and we
shall not pretend to decide whether the key of the little Cabinet was
or was not enchanted, for our reserve does not imply that we are in any
uncertainty, and therein resides its merit. But where we find ourselves
in our proper domain, or to be more precise within our own jurisdiction,
where we once mor