At last he burst through the door into the passage beyond and ran, half-falling, up the next set of stairs to the dining room. He expected his wife, Violet, to be there but, no, she was not. The door was locked and he again looked for the keys. Why were all the doors locked? The room, when he got it, was very still. It seemed to have been frozen, as though time had stopped. The room was dominated by the dark varnished wood of the heavy oval banqueting table. He saw a movement at the far end. Thinking it was his wife he hurried towards it but as he got closer he realized there were five people dining there, five women, five wives! As he stopped in horror, one of the women, Gala, poured red wine into the golden goblet at the place by his chair, only in the gloomy light the wine seemed too thick and too dark. Bluebeard ran on.
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