“Perchance it is our brothers,” said Fatima.
“Alas! no, my dear sister,” responded Anne, “it is only a flock of sheep.”
“Fatima!” roared Bluebeard, “I command you to come down.”
“One moment—just one moment more,” sobbed the wretched wife.
Then she called, “Anne, sister Anne, do you see anyone coming?”
“I see two horsemen riding in this direction,” said Anne, “but they are a great way off.”
“Heaven be praised!” exclaimed Fatima. “They must be our brothers. Oh! sign to them to hasten.”
By this time the enraged Bluebeard was howling so loud for his wife to come down that his voice shook the whole castle. Fatima dared delay no longer, and she descended to the great hall, threw herself at her wicked husband’s feet, and once more begged him to spare her life.
“Silence!” cried Bluebeard. “Your entreaties are wasted. You shall die!”
He seized her hair and raised his cimeter to strike. At that moment a loud knocking was heard at the gates. Bluebeard paused with a look of alarm, and then the door of the hall was flung open and Fatima’s two brothers appeared with swords ready drawn in their hands. They rushed at Bluebeard, and one rescued his sister from her husband’s grasp, and the other gave the wretch a sword-thrust that put an end to his life.