us. These figures had a look of life
about them, and the porphyry tiles with which the floor was covered
seemed dyed in the blood of these unhappy women. One of the doors of the
Cabinet gave upon the moat, which had no water in it.

The stables formed a sumptuous building, situated at some distance from
the castle. They contained stalls for sixty horses, and coach-houses
for twelve gilded coaches. But what made Guillettes so bewitching a
residence were the woods and canals surrounding it, in which one could
devote oneself to the pleasures of angling and the chase.

Many of the dwellers in that country-side knew Monsieur de Montragoux
only by the name of Bluebeard, for this was the only name that the
common people gave him. And in truth his beard was blue, but it was blue
only because it was black, and it was because it was so black that it
was blue. Monsieur de Montragoux must not be imagined as having the
monstrous aspect of the threefold Typhon whom one sees in Athens,
laughing in his triple indigo-blue beard. We shall get much nearer the
reality by comparing the _seigneur_ of Guillettes to those actors or
priests whose freshly shaven cheeks have a bluish gloss.

Monsieur de Montragouz did not wear a pointed beard like his grandfather
at the Court of King Henry II; nor did he wear it like a fan, as did
his great-grandfather who was killed at the battle of Marignan. Like
Monsieur de Turenne, he had only a slight moustache, and a chin-tuft;
his cheeks had a bluish look; but whatever may have been said of him,
this good gentleman was by no means disfigured thereby, nor did he
inspire any fear on that account. He only looked the more virile, and
if it made him look a little fierce, it had not the effect of making
the women dislike him. Bernard de Montragoux was a very fine man, tall,
broad across the shoulders, moderately stout, and well favoured; albeit
of a rustic habit, smacking of the woods rather than of drawing-rooms
and assemblies. Still, it is true that he did not please the ladies
as much as he should have pleased them, built as he was, and wealthy.
Shyness was the reason; shyness, not his beard. Women exercised an
invincible attraction for him, and at the same time inspired him with an
insuperable fear. He feared them as much as he loved them. This was the
origin and initial cause of all his misfortunes. Seeing a lady for the
first time, he would have died rather than speak to her, and however
much attracted h