"I see," replied her sister, "two men on horseback coming to the house: but they are still at a great distance."
"God be praised!" cried she, "it is my brothers; give them a sign to make what haste they can."
At the same moment Blue Beard cried out so loud for her to come down, that his voice shook the whole house.
The poor lady with her hair loose, and her eyes swimming in tears, instantly came down, and fell on her knees to Blue Beard, and was going to beg him to spare her life, but he interrupted her, saying, "All this is of no use at all, for you shall die;" then seizing her with one hand by the hair, and raising the scimitar he held in the other, was going with one blow to strike off her head.
The unfortunate creature turning towards him, desired to have a single moment allowed her to recollect herself.
"No, no," said Blue Beard, "I will give you no more time, I am determined—you have had too much already;" and again raised his arm—Just at this instant a loud knocking was heard at the gates, which made Blue Beard wait for a moment to see who it was. The gates were opened, and two officers dressed in their regimentals entered, and, with their swords in their hands, ran instantly to Blue Beard, who, seeing they were his wife's brothers, endeavoured to escape from their presence; but they pursued and seized him before he had gone twenty steps, and plunging their swords into his body, he immediately fell down dead at their feet.
The poor wife, who was almost as dead as her husband, was unable at first to rise and embrace her brothers. She soon, however, recovered; and as Blue Beard had no heirs, she found herself the lawful possessor of his great riches.
She employed a portion of her vast fortune in giving a marriage dowry to her sister Ann, who soon after became the wife of a young gentleman by whom she had long been beloved. Another part she employed in buying captains' commissions for her two brothers; and the rest she presented to a most worthy gentleman, whom she married soon after, and whose kind treatment soon made her forget Blue Beard's cruelty.