themselves from head to foot, framed some with
glass, some with silver, some with gilt metal, all of a costliness
beyond what had ever before been seen. They never ceased enlarging upon,
and envying, the good fortune of their friend, who, meanwhile, took no
pleasure in the sight of all these treasures, so great was her longing
to go and open the door of the closet on the ground floor. Her curiosity
at last reached such a pitch that, without stopping to consider how rude
it was to leave her guests, she ran down a little back staircase leading
to the closet, and in such haste that she nearly broke her neck two or
three times before she reached the bottom. At the door of the closet she
paused for a moment, calling to mind her husband's prohibition, and
reflecting that some trouble might fall upon her for her disobedience;
but the temptation was so strong that she could not resist it. So she
took the little key, and with a trembling hand opened the door of the
closet.

At first she could distinguish nothing, for the windows were closed; in
a few minutes, however, she began to see that the floor was covered with
blood, in which was reflected the bodies of several dead women hanging
on the walls. These were all the wives of Blue Beard, who had killed
them one after another. She was ready to die with fright, and the key,
which she had taken out of the lock, fell from her hand.

After recovering her senses a little, she picked up the key, locked the
door again, and went up to her room to try and compose herself; but she
found it impossible to quiet her agitation.

She now perceived that the key of the closet was stained with blood; she
wiped it two or three times, but the blood would not come off. In vain
she washed it, and even scrubbed it with sand and free-stone, the stain
was still there, for the key was an enchanted one, and there were no
means of cleaning it completely; when the blood was washed off one side,
it came back on the other.

Blue Beard returned that very evening, and said that he had received
letters on the road, telling him that the business on which he was going
had been settled to his advantage.

His wife did all she could to make him believe that she was delighted at
his speedy return.

The next morning he asked her for his keys again; she gave them to him;
but her hand trembled so, that he had not much difficulty in guessing
what had happened.

"How comes it," said he, "that the key of the closet