BLUE-
BEARD

able for some time to find words wherewith to
thank her brothers for this timely rescue.

As Blue-beard left no heirs, his wife inherited
all his immense fortune. She bestowed part of it
as a marriage dower on her sister Anne, who was
shortly after married to a young nobleman who
had long loved her.

Some money she spent in buying castles and lands
for her brothers. With what remained she was
still vastly rich, and she was soon married to a
generous-minded young man, a companion-in-arms
and friend of her brothers, and his love and cour-
teous treatment soon made her forget the cruel
usage she had received from Blue-beard.

‘I give you the keys,’ said he, on their marriage
day, ‘that open everything I possess, and all the
secret chambers of my heart. You may look in all,
and where you will, and you will find. nothing
that I desire to hide from you—for you will find
nothing anywhere but love for you.’

‘And I,’ answered his wife, ‘will never allow myself
henceforth to peep and peer into what does not
concern me,’

168