The Seven Wives of Bluebeard | Page 5

torments beyond imagination. He endured them like a Stoic. Still
he finally had to tell the simple creature that she was a goose, and to box her ears. This,
for him, was the beginning of a reputation for cruelty, which was not fated to be
diminished. A mendicant monk, who was passing Guillettes while Monsieur de
Montragoux was out shooting woodcock, found Madame Angle sewing a doll's petticoat.
This worthy friar, discovering that she was as foolish as she was beautiful, took her away
on his donkey, having persuaded her that the Angel Gabriel was waiting in a wood, to
give her a pair of pearl garters. It is believed that she must have been eaten by a wolf, for
she was never seen again.
After such a disastrous experience, how was it that Bluebeard could make up his mind to
contract yet another union? It would be impossible to understand it, were we not well
aware of the power which a fine pair of eyes exerts over a generous heart.
The honest gentleman met, at a neighbouring ch‰teau which he was in the habit of
frequenting, a young orphan of quality, by name Alix de Pontalcin, who, having been
robbed of all her property by a greedy trustee, thought only of entering a convent.
Officious friends intervened to alter her determination and persuade her to accept the
hand of Monsieur de Montragoux. Her beauty was perfect. Bluebeard, who was
promising himself the enjoyment of an infinite happiness in her arms, was once more
deluded in his hopes, and this time experienced a disappointment, which, owing to his

disposition, was bound to make an even greater impression upon him than all the
afflictions which he had suffered in his previous marriages. Alix de Pontalcin obstinately
refused to give actuality to the union to which she had nevertheless consented.
In vain did Monsieur de Montragoux press her to become his wife; she resisted prayers,
tears, and objurgations, she refused her husband's lightest caresses, and rushed off to shut
herself Into the Cabinet of the Unfortunate Princesses, where she remained, alone and
intractable, for whole nights at a time.
The cause of a resistance so contrary to laws both human and divine was never known; it
was attributed to Monsieur de Montragoux's blue beard, but our previous remarks on the
subject of his beard render such a supposition far from probable. In any case, it is a
difficult subject to discuss. The unhappy husband underwent the cruellest sufferings. In
order to forget them, he hunted with desperation, exhausting horses, hounds, and
huntsmen. But when he returned home, foundered and overtired, the mere sight of
Mademoiselle de Pontalcin was enough to revive his energies and his torments. Finally,
unable to endure the situation any longer, he applied to Rome for the annulment of a
marriage which was nothing better than a trap; and in consideration of a handsome
present to the Holy Father he obtained it in accordance with canon law. If Monsieur de
Montragoux discarded Mademoiselle de Pontalcin with all the marks of respect due to a
woman, and without breaking his cane across her back, it was because he had a valiant
soul, a great heart, and was master of himself as well as of Guillettes. But he swore that,
for the future, no female should enter his apartments. Happy had he been if he had held to
his oath to the end!

CHAPTER 3
Some years had elapsed since Monsieur de Montragoux had rid himself of his sixth wife,
and only a confused recollection remained in the country-side of the domestic calamities
which had fallen upon this worthy seigneur's house. Nobody knew what had become of
his wives, and hair-raising tales were told in the village at night; some believed them,
others did not. About this time, a widow, past the prime of life, Dame Sidonie de
Lespoisse, came to settle with her children in the manor of La Motte-Giron, about two
leagues, as the crow flies, from the castle of Guillettes. Whence she came, or who her
husband had been, not a soul knew. Some believed, because they had heard it said, that
he had held certain posts In Savoy or Spain; others said that he had died in the Indies;
many had the idea that the widow was possessed of immense estates, while others
doubted it strongly. However, she lived in a notable style, and invited all the nobility of
the country-side to La Motte-Giron. She had two daughters, of whom the elder, Anne, on
the verge of becoming an old maid, was a very astute person: Jeanne, the younger, ripe
for marriage, concealed a precocious knowledge of the world under an appearance of
simplicity. The Dame de Lespoisse had also two sons, of twenty and twenty-two years