Act II. A subterranean hall. _Ariane_ descends with the _Nurse_ into

the depths of the blackness on which the seventh door opened. There she finds the five wives still alive but emaciated and in rags. She tells them that she has obeyed a higher law than _Blue-Beard's_, and that outside birds are singing and the sun is shining. A jet of water extinguishes _Ariane's_ light, but she is not fearful. She leads the five toward a radiant spot at the end of the vault. She throws herself against the barred wall. It gives away. The sunlight streams in. Blinded at first by its brilliance, the five wives finally come out of the vault and go off singing joyously.