"Will you not come down?" cried Blue Beard.

"One moment longer," said his wife, and then she cried out, "Anne,
sister Anne, dost thou see nobody coming?"

"I see," said she, "two horsemen, but they are yet a great way off."

"God be praised," replied the poor wife, joyfully; "they are my
brothers; I will make them a sign, as well as I can, for them to make
haste."

Then Blue Beard bawled out so loud that he made the whole house tremble.
The distressed wife came down and threw herself at his feet, all in
tears, with her hair about her shoulders.

"All this is of no help to you," says Blue Beard: "you must die;" then,
taking hold of her hair with one hand, and lifting up his sword in the
air with the other, he was about to take off her head. The poor lady,
turning about to him, and looking at him with dying eyes, desired him to
afford her one little moment to her thoughts.

"No, no," said he, "commend thyself to God," and again lifting his arm--

At this moment there was such a loud knocking at the gate that Blue
Beard stopped suddenly. The gate was opened, and presently entered two
horsemen, who, with sword in hand, ran directly to Blue Beard. He knew
them to be his wife's brothers, one a dragoon, the other a musketeer. He
ran away immediately, but the two brothers pursued him so closely that
they overtook him before he could get to the steps of the porch. There