some years had elapsed since monsieur de montragoux had rid himself of his sixth wife, and only a confused recollection remained in the country-side of the domestic calamities which had fallen upon this worthy seigneur's house. nobody knew what had become of his wives, and hair-raising tales were told in the village at night; some believed them, others did not. about this time, a widow, past the prime of life, dame sidonie de lespoisse, came to settle with her children in the manor of la motte-giron, about two leagues, as the crow flies, from the castle of guillettes. whence she came, or who her husband had been, not a soul knew. some believed, because they had heard it said, that he had held certain posts in savoy or spain; others said that he had died in the indies; many had the idea that the widow was possessed of immense estates, while others doubted it strongly. however, she lived in a notable style, and invited all the nobility of the country-side to la motte-giron. she had two daughters, of whom the elder, anne, on the verge of becoming an old maid, was a very astute person: jeanne, the younger, ripe for marriage, concealed a precocious knowledge of the world under an appearance of simplicity. the dame de lespoisse had also two sons, of twenty and twenty-two years of age; very fine well-made young fellows, of whom one was a dragoon, and the other a musketeer. i may add, having seen his commission, that he was a black musketeer. when on foot, this was not apparent, for the black musketeers were distinguished from the grey not by the colour of their uniform, but by the hides of their horses. all alike wore blue surcoats laced with gold. as for the dragoons, they were to be recognized by a kind of fur bonnet, of which the tail fell gallantly over the ear. the dragoons had the reputation of being scamps, a scapegrace crowd, witness the song:
"mama, here the dragoons come,
let us haste away."
but you might have searched in vain through his majesty's two regiments of dragoons for a bigger rake, a more accomplished sponger, or a viler rogue than cosme de lespoisset. compared with him, his brother was an honest lad. drunkard and gambler, pierre de lespoisse pleased the ladies, and won at cards; these were the only ways of gaining a living known to him.
their mother, dame de lespoisse, was making a splash at motte-giron only in order to catch gulls. as a matter of fact, she had not a penny, and owed for everything, even to her false teeth. her clothes and furniture, her coach, her horses, and her servants had all been lent by parisian moneylenders, who threatened to withdraw them all if she did not presently marry one of her daughters to some rich nobleman, and the respectable sidonie was expecting to find herself at any moment naked in an empty house. in a hurry to find a son-in-law, she had at once cast her eye upon monsieur de montragoux, whom she summed up as being simple-minded, easy to deceive, extremely mild, and quick to fall in love under his rude and bashful exterior. her two daughters entered into her plans, and every time they met him, riddled poor bluebeard with glances which pierced him to the depths of his heart. he soon fell a victim to the potent charms of the two demoiselles de lespoisse. forgetting his oath, he thought of nothing but marrying one of them, finding them equally beautiful. after some delay, caused less by hesitation than timidity, he went to motte-giron in great state, and made his petition to the dame de lespoisse, leaving to her the choice of which daughter she would give him. madame sidonie obligingly replied that she held him in high esteem, and that she authorized him to pay his court to whichever of the ladies he should prefer.
"learn to please, monsieur," she said. "i shall be the first to applaud your success."
in order to make their better acquaintance, bluebeard invited anne and jeanne de lespoisse, with their mother, brothers, and a multitude of ladies and gentlemen to pass a fortnight at the castle of guillettes. there was a succession of walking, hunting, and fishing parties, dances and festivities, dinners and entertainments of every sort. a young seigneur, the chevalier de merlus, whom the ladies lespoisse had brought with them, organized the beats. bluebeard had the best packs of hounds and the largest turnout in the countryside. the ladies rivalled the ardour of the gentlemen in hunting the deer. they did not always hunt the animal down, but the hunters and their ladies wandered away in couples, found one another, and again wandered off into the woods. for choice, the chevalier de la merlus would lose himself with jeanne de lespoisse, and both would return to the castle at night, full of their adventures, and pleased with their day's sport.
after a few days' observation, the good seigneur of montragoux felt a decided preference for jeanne, the younger sister, rather than the elder, as she was fresher, which is not saying that she was less experienced. he allowed his preference to appear; there was no reason why he should conceal it, for it was a befitting preference; moreover, he was a plain dealer. he paid court to the young lady as best he could, speaking little, for want of practice; but he gazed at her, rolling his rolling eyes, and emitting from the depths of his bowels sighs which might have overthrown an oak tree. sometimes he would burst out laughing, whereupon the crockery trembled, and the windows rattled. alone of all the party, he failed to remark the assiduous attentions of the chevalier de la merlus to madame de lespoisse's younger daughter, or if he did remark them he saw no harm in them. his experience of women was not sufficient to make him suspicious, and he trusted when he loved. my grandmother used to say that in life experience is worthless, and that one remains the same as when one begins. i believe she was right, and the true story that i am now unfolding is not of a nature to prove her wrong.
bluebeard displayed an unusual magnificence in these festivities. when night arrived the lawns before the castle were lit by a thousand torches, and tables served by men-servants and maids dressed as fauns and dryads groaned under all the tastiest things which the country-side and the forest produced. musicians provided a continual succession of beautiful symphonies. towards the end of the meal the schoolmaster and schoolmistress, followed by the boys and girls of the village, appeared before the guests, and read a complimentary address to the seigneur of montragoux and his friends. an astrologer in a pointed cap approached the ladies, and foretold their future love-affairs from the lines of their hands, bluebeard ordered drink to be given for all his vassals, and he himself distributed bread and meat to the poor families.
at ten o'clock, for fear of the evening dew, the company retired to the apartments, lit by a multitude of candles, and there tables were prepared for every sort of game: lansquenet, billiards, reversi, bagatelle, pigeon-holes, turnstile, porch, beast, hoca, brelan, draughts, backgammon, dice, basset, and calbas. bluebeard was uniformly unfortunate in these various games, at which he lost large sums every night. he could console himself for his continuous run of bad luck by watching the three lespoisse ladies win a great deal of money. jeanne, the younger, who often backed the game of the chevalier de la merlus, heaped up mountains of gold. madame de lespoisse's two sons also did very well at reversi and basset; their luck was invariably best at the more hazardous games. the play went on until late into the night. no one slept during these marvellous festivities, and as the earliest biographer of bluebeard has said: "they spent the whole night in playing tricks on one another." these hours were the most delightful of the whole twenty-four; for then, under cover of jesting, and taking advantage of the darkness, those who felt drawn toward one another would hide together in the depths of some alcove. the chevelier de la merlus would disguise himself at one time as a devil, at another as a ghost or a were-wolf in order to frighten the sleepers, but he always ended by slipping into the room of mademoiselle jeanne de lespoisse. the good seigneur of montragoux was not overlooked in these games. the two sons of madame de lespoisse put irritant powder in his bed, and burnt in his room substances which emitted a disgusting smell. or they would arrange a jug of water over his door so that the worthy seigneur could not open the door without the whole of the water being upset upon his head. in short, they played on him all sorts of practical jokes, to the diversion of the whole company, and bluebeard bore them with his natural good humour.
he made his request, to which madame de lespoisse acceded, although, as she said, it wrung her heart to think of giving her girls in marriage.
the marriage was celebrated at motte-giron with extraordinary magnificence. the demoiselle jeanne, amazingly beautiful, was dressed entirely in point de france, her head covered with a thousand ringlets. her sister anne wore a dress of green velvet, embroidered with gold. their mother's dress was of golden tissue, trimmed with black chenille, with a parure of pearls and diamonds. monsieur de montragoux wore all his great diamonds on a suit of black velvet; he made a very fine appearance; his expression of timidity and innocence contrasting strongly with his blue chin and his massive build. the bride's brothers were of course 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.
