Blue Beard interrupted the chevalier by saying, "Listen to me, sir; whether it is owing to timidity or to premonition, I grow more and more agitated--it seems to me that misfortune menaces us; on no account would I at this time, and in the condition of my spirits, prolong any further a jest which has already lasted too long." "A jest, madame?" "Yes, sir; but I beg of you, let us descend to the lower terrace. Do you see Youmaeale there?" "No, madame; the night is very clear, but I see no one. You say, then, a jest only----" "Yes, sir; I learned through our friend, Father Griffen, that you intended to offer yourself to me; I sent the buccaneer to meet you, charging him to bring you here. I received you with the intention, I confess, and I beg your pardon, of amusing myself a little at your expense." "But, madame, this evening, even, you intended to explain to me the mystery of your triple widowhood--the death of your husbands and the presence successively, of the filibuster, the----" Angela interrupted the Gascon by saying, "Do you not hear a footfall? Is it Youmaeale?" "I hear nothing," said Croustillac, overwhelmed in the view of his ruined hopes, though he held himself in readiness for anything, now that a true love had extinguished his stupid and foolish vanity. "Let us go further," said Blue Beard; "the Caribbean is among the orange trees by the fountain, perhaps." "But, madame, this mystery?" "The mystery," replied Angela, "if it is one, cannot, must not be solved by you. My promise to reveal this secret to you to-night was a jest of which I am now heartily ashamed, I tell you; and if I kept this foolish promise it would be to make you the object of another mystery more culpable still." "Ah, madame," said the chevalier quickly, "this is very cruel." "What more would you ask, sir? I accuse myself and beg your pardon," said Angela, in a sweet and sad voice. "Forget the folly of what I have said; think no longer of my hand, which can belong to no one; but sometimes remember the recluse of Devil's Cliff, who is, perhaps, at once very culpable and very innocent. And then," she continued hesitatingly, "as a remembrance of Blue Beard, you will permit me, will you not, to offer you some of the diamonds of which you were so enamored before you had seen me." The chevalier blushed with shame and anger; the pure feeling which he felt for Angela made him feel as derogatory an offer which at one time would, doubtless, have been accepted without the slightest scruple. "Madame," said he, with as much pride as bitterness, "you have accorded me hospitality for two days; to-morrow I shall leave; the only request I make of you is to give me a guide. As to your offer, it wounds me doubly----" "Sir!" "Yes, madame, that you should believe me low enough to accept payment for the humiliating circumstances----" "Sir, such was not my idea."