a butt for these two persons, and he
almost regretted having embarked so imprudently in this mad adventure.
He said to Blue Beard resolutely, "Come, come, you are jesting, madame;
do not trouble yourself; I comprehend the joke. I do not believe you as
ferocious or as much of a magician as you wish to appear; to-morrow, I
am sure I shall learn the secret of this comedy, which to-night, I avow,
gives me a kind of nightmare."

These words of the chevalier, spoken from no motive but to show the
dwellers of Devil's Cliff that he did not intend to be their dupe,
produced on Blue Beard a singular effect. She cast a terrified glance at
the buccaneer, and said haughtily to Croustillac, "I do not jest, sir;
you came here with the intention of marrying me; I offer you my hand,
and I will tell you upon what conditions; if these are agreeable to you,
we will be married in eight days; there is a chapel here; the reverend
Father Griffen, of the parish of Macouba, will come hither in order to
unite us; if my conditions do not meet with your approval, you can quit
this house, where you never ought to have come."

As Blue Beard proceeded her face lost its look of wicked cajolery; she
became sad, almost menacing. "A comedy!" she said; "if I thought you
took all that has been said as such, you should not remain a moment
longer in this house, sir," she continued, in a changed voice, betraying
her deep feeling.

"No, the chevalier must not take it all as a jest," said the buccaneer,
looking steadily at the Gascon.

Croustillac, naturally impatient and vivacious, experienced vexation at
not being able to discover what was true and what feigned in this
singular adventure. He cried then, "Well, zounds! madame, what do you
wish me to think? I encounter a buccaneer in the forest; I impart to him
my desire to meet you; he informs me abruptly that you will yourself
tell me that he has the good fortune to be in your good graces."

"And then, sir?"

"Then, madame, though I have warned him, the buccaneer has brought me to
you, by whom I have been received with the greatest hospitality, I must
acknowledge; I am introduced to you; informed of my desires, you
yourself offer me your hand, you inform your friend the bull-hunter of
my wishes."

"Well, sir?"

"Madame, up to that time all went well; but now the buccaneer wishes to
inform me, with your consent, that I am reserved for a fourth deceased
husband, and to succeed a man who laughed himself