March 25th.--On Tuesday we went to breakfast at William Story's in the
Palazzo Barberini. We had a very pleasant time. He is one of the most
agreeable men I know in society. He showed us a note from Thackeray, an
invitation to dinner, written in hieroglyphics, with great fun and
pictorial merit. He spoke of an expansion of the story of Blue Beard,
which he himself had either written or thought of writing, in which the
contents of the several chambers which Fatima opened, before arriving at
the fatal one, were to be described. This idea has haunted my mind ever
since, and if it had but been my own I am pretty sure that it would
develop itself into something very rich. I mean to press William Story
to work it out. The chamber of Blue Beard, too (and this was a part of
his suggestion), might be so handled as to become powerfully interesting.
Were I to take up the story I would create an interest by suggesting a
secret in the first chamber, which would develop itself more and more in
every successive hall of the great palace, and lead the wife irresistibly
to the chamber of horrors.
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