rooms, closets, and wardrobes, which were so fine and rich, and each
seemed to surpass all others. They went up into the warehouses, where
was the best and richest furniture; and they could not sufficiently
admire the number and beauty of the tapestry, beds, couches, cabinets,
stands, tables, and looking-glasses, in which you might see yourself
from head to foot. Some of them were framed with glass, others with
silver, plain and gilded, the most beautiful and the most magnificent
ever seen.


[Illustration: "IF YOU OPEN IT, THERE'S NOTHING YOU MAY NOT EXPECT
FROM MY ANGER." p. 67.]

They ceased not to praise and envy the happiness of their friend, who,
in the meantime, was not at all amused by looking upon all these rich
things, because of her impatience to go and open the closet on the
ground floor. Her curiosity was so great that, without considering how
uncivil it was to leave her guests, she went down a little back
staircase, with such excessive haste that twice or thrice she came near
breaking her neck. Having reached the closet-door, she stood still for
some time, thinking of her husband's orders, and considering that
unhappiness might attend her if she was disobedient; but the temptation
was so strong she could not overcome it. She then took the little key,
and opened the door, trembling. At first she could not see anything
plainly, because the windows were shut. After some moments she began to
perceive that several dead women were scattered about the floor. (These
were all the wives whom Blue Beard had married and murdered, one after
the other, because they did not obey his orders about the closet on the
ground floor.) She thought she surely would die for fear, and the key,
which she pulled out of the lock, fell out of her hand.