"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, look from the tower window. Can you see no
one coming?" And Sister Anne, looking out, answered:
"Alas! No! Nothing but the green grass, and the sun which shines upon
it."
Bluebeard shouted from below that the time was almost up.
"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, look once again, can you see no one
coming?" whispered the young wife wringing her hands. Her brothers,
she knew, were to visit her that day--if only they would come in time!
"Alas, No!" Sister Anne replied. "I see a cloud of dust, but it is
only a flock of sheep on the road."
But now Bluebeard bawled out so loudly for his wife to come down, that
the whole house shook.
"Sister Anne, Sister Anne, tell me is no one coming?"
"I see two horsemen afar off," cried Sister Anne. "I will beckon to
them to hasten hither."
But Bluebeard would wait not a moment longer, and nearly dead with
terror his wife descended, still entreating him to spare her life.
He would not, however, give heed to her prayers, and was just
brandishing his sword, so that it might come down straight and true
upon her slender neck, when the door burst open and two young army
officers came rushing in, whom Bluebeard recognised as the brothers
of his wife.
Pages:
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128