The Seven Wives of Bluebeard | Page 4

one foot. As soon as she
was married, this goose-girl, bitten by foolish ambition, dreamed of nothing but further
greatness and splendour. She was not satisfied that her brocade dresses were rich enough,
her pearl necklaces beautiful enough, her rubies big enough, her coaches sufficiently
gilded, her lakes, woods, and lands sufficiently vast. Bluebeard, who had never had any
leaning toward ambition, trembled at the haughty humour of his spouse. Unaware, in his
straightforward simplicity, whether the mistake lay in thinking magnificently like his
wife, or modestly as he himself did, he accused him self of a mediocrity of mind which
was thwarting the noble desires of his consort, and, full of uncertainty, he would
sometimes exhort her to taste with moderation the good things of this world, while at
others he roused himself to pursue fortune along the verge of precipitous heights. He was
prudent, but conjugal affection bore him beyond the reach of prudence. Gigonne thought
of nothing but cutting a figure in the world, being received at Court, and becoming the
King's mistress. Unable to gain her point, she pined away with vexation, contracting a
jaundice, of which she died. Bluebeard, full of lamentation, built her a magnificent tomb.
This worthy seigneur, overwhelmed by constant domestic adversity, would not perhaps
have chosen another wife : but he was himself chosen for a husband by Mademoiselle
Blanche de Gibeaumex, the daughter of a cavalry officer, who had but one ear ; he used
to relate that he had lost the other in the King's service. She was full of intelligence,
which she employed in deceiving her husband. She betrayed him with every man of
quality in the neighbourhood. She was so dexterous that she deceived him in his own
castle, almost under his very eyes, without his perceiving it. Poor Bluebeard assuredly
suspected something, but he could not say what. Unfortunately for her, while she gave
her whole mind to tricking her husband, she was not sufficiently careful in deceiving her
lovers; by which I mean that she betrayed them, one for another. One day she was
surprised in the Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses, in the company of a gentleman
whom she loved, by a gentleman whom she had loved, and the latter, in a transport of
jealousy, ran her through with his sword. A few hours later the unfortunate lady was there
found dead by one of the castle servants, and the fear inspired by the room increased.

Poor Bluebeard, learning at one blow of his ample dishonour, and the tragic death of his
wife, did not console himself for the latter misfortune by any consideration of the former.
He had loved Blanche de Gibeaumex with a strange ardour, more dearly than he had
loved Jeanne de La Cloche, Gigonne Traignel, or even Colette Passage. On learning that
she had consistently betrayed him, and that now she would never betray him again, he
experienced a grief and a mental perturbation which, far from being appeased, daily
increased in violence. So intolerable were his sufferings that he contracted a malady
which caused his life to be despaired of.
The physicians, having employed various medicines without effect, advised him that the
only remedy proper to his complaint was to take a young wife. He then thought of his
young cousin, Angle de La Garandine, whom he believed would be willingly bestowed
upon him, as she had no property. What encouraged him to take her to wife was the fact
that she was reputed to be simple and ignorant of the world. Having been deceived by a
woman of intelligence, he felt more comfortable with a fool. He married Mademoiselle
de La Garandine, and quickly perceived the falsity of his calculations. Angle was kind,
Angle was good, and Angle loved him; she had not, in herself, any leanings toward evil,
but the least astute person could quickly lead her astray at any moment. It was enough to
tell her: "Do this for fear of bogies; comes in here or the were-wolf will eat you;" or
"Shut your eyes, and take this drop of medicine," and the innocent girl would straightway
do so, at the will of the rascals who wanted of her that which it was very natural to want
of her, for she was pretty. Monsieur de Montragoux, injured and betrayed by this
innocent girl, as much as and more than he had been by Blanche de Gibeaumex, had the
additional pain of knowing it, for Angle was too candid to conceal anything from him.
She used to tell him: "Sir, some one told me this some one did that to me; some one took
so and so away from me; I saw that; I felt so and so." And by her ingenuousness she
caused her lord to suffer