"I see," said her sister, "a cloud of dust a little to the left."
"Do you think it is my brothers?" continued the wife.
"Alas, no, dear sister," replied she, "it is only a flock of sheep!"
"Will you come down or not, madam?" said Blue Beard, in the greatest rage imaginable.
"Only one moment more," answered she. And then she called out for the last time:
"Sister Ann! do you see no one coming?"
"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, came down, and fell on her knees before Blue Beard, and was going to beg him to spare her life, but he interrupted her, saying: "All this is of no use, for you shall die;" then, seizing her with one hand by the hair, and raising the simitar he held in the other, he was going with one blow to strike off her head.