rowful was she; but Blue Beard had a heart harder than any stone.
"You must die, madam," said he, "and that at once."
"Since I must die," answered she, looking upon him with her eyes all bathed in tears, "give me some little time to say my prayers."
"I give you," replied Blue Beard, "half a quarter of an hour, but not one moment more."
When she was alone she called out to her sister, and said to her:—
"Sister Anne,"—for that was her name,—"go up, I beg you, to the top of the tower, and look if my brothers are not coming; they promised me they would come to-day, and if you see them, give them a sign to make haste."
Her sister Anne went up to the top of the tower, and the poor afflicted wife cried out from time to time:—
"Anne, sister Anne, do you see any one coming?"
And sister Anne said:—
"I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which looks green."
In the meanwhile Blue Beard, holding a great sabre in his hand, cried to his wife as loud as he could:—
"Come down instantly, or I shall come up to you."
