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BLUE BEARD.

Tuere was, some time ago, a gentleman who was very rich ;
he had fine town and country houses ; his dishes and plates
were all of gold or silver ; his rooms were hung with damask ;
his chairs and sofas were covered with the richest silks, and
his carriages were all gilt with gold ina grand style. But it
happened that this gentleman had a blue beard, which. made
him so very frightful and ugly, that none of the ladies, in the
parts where he lived, would venture to go into his company.
Now there was a certain lady of rank, who lived very near
him, and had two daughters, both of them of very great beauty.
Blue Beard asked her to bestow one of them upon him for a
wifo, and left it to herself to choose which of the two it should
be. But both the young ladiesagain and again said they would
never marry Blue Beard ; yet, to be as civil as they could,
each of them said, the only reason why she would not have him
‘was, because she was loth to hinder her sister from the match,
which would be such a good one for her. Still the trath of the
matter was, they could neither of them bear the thoughts of
having a husband with a blue beard ; and, besides, they had
heard of his having been married to several wives before, and
nobody could tell what had ever become of any of them. As
Blue Beard wished very much to gain their favour, he asked
the lady and her daughters, and some ladies who were on a visit
at their house, to go with him to one of his country-seats,
where they spent a whole week, during which they passed all
their time in nothing but parties for hunting and fishing, music,
daneing, and feasts. No one even thought of going to bed, and