, 1888-09-23
THE NEW %BLUEBEARD.

And now can tell you the beginning OF
the real true end of Mr., Bluebeard.
About two miles from the .Fatimas'
house there lived a very nice, respectable
old lady and her niece, whose name was
Zerlina. At the time of Bluebeard's last
few marriages Zerlina had been away at
boarding school, and although Mrs. Ter
lima chat was the aunt) nae always left a
card after the wedding receptions, she
had never been to any of them, and knew
but little of the family. 1t may be that
she had a slight prejudice against Mr..
Bluebeard on account of having had occa.
sion to call. or. rather. to leave a card, so
many different times, after so many diff
ferent receptions, and all weddings; but
she was such a nice old lady that she
always believed everything that every one
told her, and when Zerlina met Mr.. Blue
beard at a lecture Zone of a ~course), and
finding that he talked well, and knowing
her aunt always left cards for his wives
when he wasn't a widower, gave him per-
mission to call. Mrs. Zerlina said he was,
she had no doubt, very nice.
He came the very next day and stayed
two hours talking about very wise things,
and then he sent the old lady some
flowers, and sent them his carriage to take
them to drive, and took them to a concert,
of really good music, which, as Mrs. Ter
lima couldn't at all understand, she had a
great respect for, and then he gave orders
for his house to be newly painted and
AVE new awnings up stairs and down,
and people nodded their heads and said
they had thought it was about time for
Mr.. Bluebeard Co have a wedding.
When the engagement was announced
several people spoke to Mrs. Zerlina about
it and said they thought it was a rather
risky thing to marry into that house-it
couldn't be well drained, or something
and Mrs. Zerlina began to think that it
might be her duty to say something to
Zerlina. So she began very timidly with
a little a~llusion to the fact that the
deaths of the last three or four Mrs. Blue
boards had been very sad.
Indeed" said Zerlina, indifferently.
Mrs. Zerlina felt o little discouraged at
the want of interest, but she added that
there were people who thought that it
was strange if he were really such a kind
and devoted husband, that Fatima should
have been willing to go off and leave him
SO soon after they were married.
My dear aunt, " said Zerlina, threading
her needle with pink floss (she was en-
broidering a lovely high art tidy, "Fa-
TINA wouldn't AVE known a kind and de-
voted husband if she'd had one. went
to school with Fatima, and 1 knew her;
she was a fool. Why, that girl could no
more make a bonnet han she could cook
a dinner; and as for her studiesl she
might have hit a date by accident within
ten years, but she stuck at plain
geometry, to my certain knowledge,
and never finished Creek" You
see Zerlina had beer at the
Harv-no, l suppose it couldn't nave been
the Harvard annex, but it was some place
like that, and the cooking class, and she
had taken sewing lessons, and altogether
she was a very wise young person. In
deed, she was 30 wise that Mrs. Zerlina
was q little bit afraid of her, and had to
cough gently two or three times before
she ventured a little further and said
that, with a young girl, it seemed q little
sad, so many times widowed seemed to
have-just a little-you know-and the
sentiment-and-
Zerlina smiled indulgeptly and shook
her head.
"How fortunate it Is, then," she said,
chat l hav no sentiment"
Mrs. Zerlina gasped; you know she was
quite old and things had changed since
she was married and thought there was
but one man in the world and that he was
so delightful and perfect that it was the
most wonderful and beautiful thing in
the whole history of time that he should
care for. herl
mo" Zerlina repeated, II have no SEN
timent; no well educated girl has; and
then I've read Howells and l know that
life is extremely commonplace and that
we are all bound to be unhappy anyway,
n that it makes very little difference
with whom n is unhappy, you are sure
to wish you'd tried the other man, which
ever one you take; that is, if you have g
choice in the matter; and I've decided t.
try Bluebeard."
After that, Mrs. Zerlina thought she
might just as well drop the subject and
just accept Mr.. Bluebeard's polite invita-
tion to make her home with them.
They were married very quietly, because
Bluebeard had always had gay weddings,
and settled down at once in the freshly
painted house, with Mrs. Zerlina in a
sunny front room. MIR. Bluebeard read
aloud every evening, and Mrs. Zerlina
wrote to her second cousin by marriage
that people might talk as they pleased, a
nicer man about tho house She never
wished to see than Mr.. Bluebeard.
After awhile, Mr.. Bluebeard began to
get restless, and Zerlina, seeing that he
was the kind of man who needed a good
deal of change of air-you know l told
you how wise she was-suggested that be
should go and look after some mines of
his. Her husband was a little surprised,
but he said if she wouldn't miss him, if
she wouldn't be lonely, he guessed he
would.
why, certainly 1 shall miss you," Ter
lima said; I'VE are SO constituted as to
miss anything that we are accustomed to,
but am never lonely; l have too much
to do. And then | shall be very busy; it
will be a good chance to look over things.
There are a great many unused rooms in
the house that l shall take the opportunity
to have gone over. l never nave the
house cleaned when there is man about"
Bluebeard looked at her admiringly, and
said she was certainly the most sensible
woman he had ever met. Then he gave
her the famous bunch of keys and told
her that the whole house was at her dis
posal except the blue chamber. Zerlina
tied q red ribbon on the forbidden key
and put the bunch in her drawer in such
Q calm way that Bluebeard thought she
hardly realized the solemnity of the occa-