e 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 IV

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 Merlus, who kept
as close to Madame de Montragoux as if he had been her shadow. Her good
husband was a little annoyed at this; he would have liked to keep his
wife always to himself, but he did not take exception to the affection
which she felt for this young gentleman, as she had told him that he was
her foster-brother.

Charles Perrault relates that a month after having contracted this
union, Bluebeard was compelled to make a journey of six weeks' duration
on some important business. He does not seem to be aware of the reasons
for this journey, and it has been suspected that it was an artifice,
which the jealous husband resorted to, according to custom, in order to
surprise his wife. The truth is quite otherwise. Monsieur de Montragouz
went to Le Perche to receive the heritage of his cousin of Outarde, who
had been killed gloriously by a cannon-ball at the battle of the Dunes,
while casting dice upon a drum.

Before leaving, Monsieur de Montragoux begged his wife to indulge in
every possible distraction during his absence.

"Invite all your friends, madame," he said, "go riding with them, amuse
yourselves, and have a pleasant time."

He handed over to her all the keys of the house, thus indicating that
in his absence she was the sole and sovereign mistress of all the
_seigneurie_ of Guillettes.

"This," he said, "is the key of the two great wardrobes; this of the
gold and silver not in daily use; this of the strong-boxes which contain
my gold and silver; this of the caskets where my jewels are kept; and
this is a pass-key into all the rooms. A