And I did hear that Mrs. Montressor had chosen a wife for her stepson , of good family and some beauty , but that my Uncle Hugh would have none of her -- a thing Mrs. Montressor found hard to pardon , yet might so have done had not my uncle , on his last voyage to the Indies -- for he went often in his own vessels -- married and brought home a foreign bride , of whom no one knew aught save that her beauty was a thing to dazzle the day and that she was of some strange alien blood such as ran not in the blue veins of the Montressors . Some had much to say of her pride and insolence , and wondered if Mrs. Montressor would tamely yield her mistress-ship to the stranger . But others , who were taken with her loveliness and grace , said that the tales told were born of envy and malice , and that Alicia Montressor was well worthy of her name and station . So I halted between two opinions and thought to judge for myself , but when I went to the Place my Uncle Hugh and his bride were gone for a time , and I had even to swallow my disappointment and bide their return with all my small patience . But my aunts and their stepmother talked much of Alicia , and they spoke slightingly of her , saying that she was but a light woman and that no good would come of my Uncle Hugh 's having wed her , with other things of a like nature . Also they spoke of the company she gathered around her , thinking her to have strange and unbecoming companions for a Montressor . All this I heard and pondered much over , although my good aunts supposed that such a chit as I would take no heed to their whisperings . When I was not with them , helping to whip eggs and stone raisins , and being watched to see that I ate not more than one out of five , I was surely to be found in the wing hall , poring over my book and grieving that I was no more allowed to go into the Red Room . The wing hall was a narrow one and dim , connecting the main rooms of the Place with an older wing , built in a curious way . The hall was lighted by small , square-paned windows , and at its end a little flight of steps led up to the Red Room . Whenever I had been at the Place before -- and this was often -- I had passed much of my time in this same Red Room . It was Mrs. Montressor 's sitting-room then , where she wrote her letters and examined household accounts , and sometimes had an old gossip in to tea . The room was low-ceilinged and dim , hung with red damask , and with odd , square windows high up under the eaves and a dark wainscoting all around it . And there I loved to sit quietly on the red sofa and read my fairy tales , or talk dreamily to the swallows fluttering crazily against the tiny panes . When I had gone this Christmas to the Place I soon bethought myself of the Red Room -- for I had a great love for it . But I had got no further than the steps when Mrs. Montressor came sweeping down the hall in haste and , catching me by the arm , pulled me back as roughly as if it had been Bluebeard 's chamber itself into which I was venturing . Then , seeing my face , which I doubt not was startled enough , she seemed to repent of her haste and patted me gently on the head . `` There , there , little Beatrice ! Did I frighten you , child ? Forgive an old woman 's thoughtlessness .
But be not too ready to go where you are not bidden , and never venture foot in the Red XXXXX now , for it belongs to your Uncle Hugh 's wife , and let me tell you she is not over fond of intruders . ''
Alicia Bluebeard Hugh Montressors Room damask eaves mistress-ship raisins slightingly