The Seven Wives of Bluebeard | Page 7

as when one begins. I believe she was right, and the true story that I
am now unfolding is not of a nature to prove her wrong.
Bluebeard displayed an unusual magnificence in these festivities. When night arrived the
lawns before the castle were lit by a thousand torches, and tables served by men-servants
and maids dressed as fauns and dryads groaned under all the tastiest things which the
country-side and the forest produced. Musicians provided a continual succession of
beautiful symphonies. Towards the end of the meal the schoolmaster and schoolmistress,
followed by the boys and girls of the village, appeared before the guests, and read a
complimentary address to the seigneur of Montragoux and his friends. An astrologer in a
pointed cap approached the ladies, and foretold their future love-affairs from the lines of
their hands. Bluebeard ordered drink to be given for all his vassals, and he himself
distributed bread and meat to the poor families.
At ten o'clock, for fear of the evening dew, the company retired to the apartments, lit by a
multitude of candles, and there tables were prepared for every sort of game : lansquenet,
billiards, reversi, bagatelle, pigeon-holes, turnstile, porch, beast, hoca, brelan, draughts,
backgammon, dice, basset, and calbas. Bluebeard was uniformly unfortunate in these
various games, at which he lost large sums every night. He could console himself for his
continuous run of bad luck by watching the three Lespoisse ladies win a great deal of
money. Jeanne, the younger, who often backed the game of the Chevalier de la Menus,
heaped up mountains of gold. Madame de Lespoisse's two sons also did very well at
reversi and basset; their luck was invariably best at the more hazardous games. The play
went on until late into the night. No one slept during these marvellous festivities, and as
the earliest biographer of Bluebeard has said: "They spent the whole night in playing
tricks on one another." These hours were the most delightful of the whole twenty-four;
for then, under cover of jesting, and taking advantage of the darkness, those who felt
drawn toward one another would hide together in the depths of some alcove. The
Chevalier de la Menus would disguise himself at one time as a devil, at another as a ghost
or a were-wolf in order to frighten the sleepers, but he always ended by slipping into the
room of Mademoiselle Jeanne de Lespoisse. 'The good seigneur of Montragoux was not
overlooked in these games. The two sons of Madame de Lespoisse put irritant powder in
his bed, and burnt in his room substances which emitted a disgusting smell. Or they
would arrange a jug of water over his door so that the worthy seigneur could not open the
door without the whole of the water being upset upon his head. In short, they played on
him all sorts of practical jokes, to the diversion of the whole company, and Bluebeard
bore them with his natural good humour.

He made his request, to which Madame de Lespoisse acceded, although, as she said, it
wrung her heart to think of giving her girls in marriage.
The marriage was celebrated at Motte-Giron with extraordinary magnificence. The
Demoiselle Jeanne, amazingly beautiful, was dressed entirely in point de France, her
head covered with a thousand ringlets. Her sister Anne wore a dress of green velvet,
embroidered with gold. Their mother's dress was of golden tissue, trimmed with black
chenille, with a parure of pearls and diamonds. Monsieur de Montragoux wore all his
great diamonds on a suit of black velvet; he made a very fine appearance; his expression
of timidity and innocence contrasting strongly with his blue chin and his massive build.
The bride's brothers were of course handsomely arrayed, but the Chevalier de la Merlus,
in a suit of rose velvet trimmed with pearls, shone with unparalleled splendour.
Immediately after the ceremony, the Jews who had hired out to the bride's family and her
lover all these fine clothes and rich jewels resumed possession of them and posted back
to Paris with them.

CHAPTER 4
For a month Monsieur de Montragoux was the happiest of men. He adored his wife, and
regarded her as an angel of purity. She was something quite different, but far shrewder
men than poor Bluebeard might have been deceived as he was, for she was a person of
great cunning and astuteness, and allowed herself submissively to be ruled by her mother,
who was the cleverest jade in the whole kingdom of France. She established herself at
Guillettes with her eldest daughter Anne, her two sons, Pierre and Cosme, and the
Chevalier de la Menus, who kept as close to Madame de Montragoux as if he had been
her shadow. Her good husband was a little annoyed at