Blue Beard interrupted the chevalier by saying, "Listen to me, sir; whether it is owing to timidity or to premonition, I grow more and more agitated—it seems to me that misfortune menaces us; on no account would I at this time, and in the condition of my spirits, prolong any further a jest which has already lasted too long."
"A jest, madame?"
"Yes, sir; but I beg of you, let us descend to the lower terrace. Do you see Youmäale there?"
"No, madame; the night is very clear, but I see no one. You say, then, a jest only——"
"Yes, sir; I learned through our friend, Father Griffen, that you intended to offer yourself to me; I sent the buccaneer to meet you, charging him to bring you here. I received you with the intention, I confess, and I beg your pardon, of amusing myself a little at your expense."
"But, madame, this evening, even, you intended to explain to me the mystery of your triple widowhood—the death of your husbands and the presence successively, of the filibuster, the——"
Angela interrupted the Gascon by saying, "Do you not hear a footfall? Is it Youmäale?"
"I hear nothing," said Croustillac, overwhelmed in the view of his ruined hopes, though he held himself in readiness for anything, now that a true love had extinguished his stupid and foolish vanity.
"Let us go further," said Blue Beard; "the Caribbean is among the orange trees by the fountain, perhaps."
"But, madame, this mystery?"