“I give you,” replied Bluebeard, “half a quarter of an hour, but not one moment more.”
When she was alone she called her sister, and said: “Sister Anne,”—for that was her name,—“go up, I beg you, to the top of the tower, and see 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 wife cried out from time to time, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see no one coming?”
And sister Anne said, “I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which looks green.”
In the meantime Bluebeard, holding a great cutlass in his hand, cried out to his wife as loud as he could, “Come down quickly, or I shall come up to you.” [[76]]
“One moment longer, if you please,” said his wife; and she cried out very softly, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see no one coming?”
And sister Anne answered, “I see nothing but the sun, which makes a dust, and the grass, which looks green.”
“Come down at once,” cried Bluebeard, “or I shall come up to you.”
“I am coming,” answered his wife; and she cried, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see no one coming?”
“I see,” replied sister Anne, “a great dust, that comes from this side.”