ethods--a little offhand to be sure--of breaking the conjugal chain.
Zounds! I shall see her, please her, seduce her. Poor woman! She does
not dream that her conqueror is at hand! If--if--I wager that her little
heart beats strongly this very moment. She feels my approach, she
divines it, her presentiment does not deceive her. She will be
overcome--happiness will arrive on the wings of love!"

Thus saying, the chevalier threw a glance on his toilet. It did not
escape his notice that it was slightly disordered; his stockings,
originally purple, then pale pink, had become striped, zebra-fashion,
with a number of green rays, since his journey in the forest; his coat
was ornamented with various holes fancifully arranged, but the Gascon
made this reflection aloud, if not very modest, at least very consoling:
"Faith! Venus arose from the sea without any covering; Truth had no more
on when she emerged from the well; and if beauty and truth appeared
without a veil, I see not why--love--Beside, Blue Beard must be a woman
who will understand me!"

Completely reassured, the chevalier hastened his steps, climbed the face
of the rocks, and found himself in an inclosure of the forest, even more
somber and impenetrable than that which he had quitted. Others would
have lost courage. Croustillac said to himself, on the contrary "Zounds!
this is very clever. Hiding her habitation in the most dense forest is a
woman's idea. I am sure the more I push on into these thickets the
nearer I approach the house. I consider I have already arrived. Blue
Beard, Blue Beard, finally I behold thee."

The chevalier cherished this precious illusion while the daylight
lasted, which was not long; there is little twilight in the tropics.
Soon the chevalier saw, with astonishment, the summits of the trees
little by little obscure themselves, and assume a fantastic appearance
in the great mass of the forest. For some moments there remained a
half-shade, here and there lighted by the bright reflection of the sun,
which seemed as red as the fire of a furnace, for he was "making his
couch in the wind," as they say in the Antilles.

For a moment the vegetation, so brilliantly green, took on a purple
tint; the chevalier believed that nature was painted a living red, what
was perceived being a mingling with the tints of the heavens. "Zounds!"
exclaimed the chevalier, "I did not deceive myself; I am near this
infernal place, this illumination proves it. Lucifer i