The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander Dumas (best book club books for discussion txt) 📖

any accident return, think of me.'--'In another week you will have left Beaucaire.' remarked Caderousse, 'for the fair ends in a few days.'--'True, but that makes no difference. Write to me at Paris, to M.

Joannes, in the Palais Royal, arcade Pierre, No. 45. I will make the journey on purpose to see him, if it is worth while.' At this moment there was a tremendous clap of thunder, accompanied by a flash of lightning so vivid, that it quite eclipsed the light of the lamp.

"'See here,' exclaimed Caderousse. 'You cannot think of going out in such weather as this.'--'Oh, I am not afraid of thunder,' said the jeweller.--'And then there are robbers,' said La Carconte. 'The road is never very safe during fair time.'--'Oh, as to the robbers,' said Joannes, 'here is something for them,' and he drew from his pocket a pair of small pistols, loaded to the muzzle. 'Here,' said he, 'are dogs who bark and bite at the same time, they are for the two first who shall have a longing for your diamond, Friend Caderousse.'

"Caderousse and his wife again interchanged a meaning look. It seemed as though they were both inspired at the same time with some horrible thought. 'Well, then, a good journey to you,' said Caderousse.--'Thanks,'

replied the jeweller. He then took his cane, which he had placed against an old cupboard, and went out. At the moment when he opened the door, such a gust of wind came in that the lamp was nearly extinguished. 'Oh,'

said he, 'this is very nice weather, and two leagues to go in such a storm.'--'Remain,' said Caderousse. 'You can sleep here.'--'Yes; do stay,' added La Carconte in a tremulous voice; 'we will take every care of you.'--'No; I must sleep at Beaucaire. So, once more, good-night.' Caderousse followed him slowly to the threshold. 'I can see neither heaven nor earth,' said the jeweller, who was outside the door. 'Do I turn to the right, or to the left hand?'--'To the right,' said Caderousse. 'You cannot go wrong--the road is bordered by trees on both sides.'--'Good--all right,' said a voice almost lost in the distance. 'Close the door,' said La Carconte; 'I do not like open doors when it thunders.'--'Particularly when there is money in the house, eh?' answered Caderousse, double-locking the door.

"He came into the room, went to the cupboard, took out the bag and pocket-book, and both began, for the third time, to count their gold and bank-notes. I never saw such an expression of cupidity as the flickering lamp revealed in those two countenances. The woman, especially, was hideous; her usual feverish tremulousness was intensified, her countenance had become livid, and her eyes resembled burning coals.

'Why,' she inquired in a hoarse voice, 'did you invite him to sleep here to-night?'--'Why?' said Caderousse with a shudder; 'why, that he might not have the trouble of returning to Beaucaire.'--'Ah,' responded the woman, with an expression impossible to describe; 'I thought it was for something else.'--'Woman, woman--why do you have such ideas?' cried Caderousse; 'or, if you have them, why don't you keep them to yourself?'--'Well,'

said La Carconte, after a moment's pause, 'you are not a man.'--'What do you mean?' added Caderousse.--'If you had been a man, you would not have let him go from here.'--'Woman!'--'Or else he should not have reached Beaucaire.'--'Woman!'--'The road takes a turn--he is obliged to follow it--while alongside of the canal there is a shorter road.'--'Woman!--you offend the good God. There--listen!' And at this moment there was a tremendous peal of thunder, while the livid lightning illumined the room, and the thunder, rolling away in the distance, seemed to withdraw unwillingly from the cursed abode. 'Mercy!' said Caderousse, crossing himself.

"At the same moment, and in the midst of the terrifying silence which usually follows a clap of thunder, they heard a knocking at the door. Caderousse and his wife started and looked aghast at each other. 'Who's there?'

cried Caderousse, rising, and drawing up in a heap the gold and notes scattered over the table, and which he covered with his two hands.--'It is I,' shouted a voice.--'And who are you?'--'Eh, pardieu, Joannes, the jeweller.'--'Well, and you said I offended the good God,' said La Carconte with a horrid smile. 'Why, the good God sends him back again.' Caderousse sank pale and breathless into his chair. La Carconte, on the contrary, rose, and going with a firm step towards the door, opened it, saying, as she did so--'Come in, dear M.

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Joannes.'--'Ma foi,' said the jeweller, drenched with rain, 'I am not destined to return to Beaucaire to-night.

The shortest follies are best, my dear Caderousse. You offered me hospitality, and I accept it, and have returned to sleep beneath your friendly roof.' Caderousse stammered out something, while he wiped away the sweat that started to his brow. La Carconte double-locked the door behind the jeweller."

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Chapter 45.

The Rain of Blood.

"As the jeweller returned to the apartment, he cast around him a scrutinizing glance--but there was nothing to excite suspicion, if it did not exist, or to confirm it, if it were already awakened. Caderousse's hands still grasped the gold and bank-notes, and La Carconte called up her sweetest smiles while welcoming the reappearance of their guest. 'Well, well,' said the jeweller, 'you seem, my good friends, to have had some fears respecting the accuracy of your money, by counting it over so carefully directly I was gone.'--'Oh, no,'

answered Caderousse, 'that was not my reason, I can assure you; but the circumstances by which we have become possessed of this wealth are so unexpected, as to make us scarcely credit our good fortune, and it is only by placing the actual proof of our riches before our eyes that we can persuade ourselves that the whole affair is not a dream.' The jeweller smiled.--'Have you any other guests in your house?' inquired he.--'Nobody but ourselves,' replied Caderousse; 'the fact is, we do not lodge travellers--indeed, our tavern is so near the town, that nobody would think of stopping here.'--'Then I am afraid I shall very much inconvenience you.'--'Inconvenience us? Not at all, my dear sir,' said La Carconte in her most gracious manner. 'Not at all, I assure you.'--'But where will you manage to stow me?'--'In the chamber overhead.'--'Surely that is where you yourselves sleep?'--'Never mind that; we have a second bed in the adjoining room.' Caderousse stared at his wife with much astonishment.

"The jeweller, meanwhile, was humming a song as he stood warming his back at the fire La Carconte had kindled to dry the wet garments of her guest; and this done, she next occupied herself in arranging his supper, by spreading a napkin at the end of the table, and placing on it the slender remains of their dinner, to which she added three or four fresh-laid eggs. Caderousse had once more parted with his treasure--the banknotes were replaced in the pocket-book, the gold put back into the bag, and the whole carefully locked in the cupboard. He then began pacing the room with a pensive and gloomy air, glancing from time to time at the jeweller, who stood reeking with the steam from his wet clothes, and merely changing his place on the warm hearth, to enable the whole of his garments to be dried.

"'There,' said La Carconte, as she placed a bottle of wine on the table, 'supper is ready whenever you are.'--'And you?' asked Joannes.--'I don't want any supper,' said Caderousse.--'We dined so very late,' hastily interposed La Carconte.--'Then it seems I am to eat alone,' remarked the jeweller.--'Oh, we shall have the pleasure of waiting upon you,' answered La Carconte, with an eager attention she was not accustomed to manifest even to guests who paid for what they took.

"From time to time Caderousse darted on his wife keen, searching glances, but rapid as the lightning flash.

The storm still continued. 'There, there,' said La Carconte; 'do you hear that? upon my word, you did well to come back.'--'Nevertheless,' replied the jeweller, 'if by the time I have finished my supper the tempest has at all abated, I shall make another start.'--'It's the mistral,' said Caderousse, 'and it will be sure to last till to-morrow morning.' He sighed heavily.--'Well,' said the jeweller, as he placed himself at table, 'all I can say is, so much the worse for those who are abroad.'--'Yes,' chimed in La Carconte, 'they will have a wretched night of it.'

"The jeweller began eating his supper, and the woman, who was ordinarily so querulous and indifferent to all who approached her, was suddenly transformed into the most smiling and attentive hostess. Had the unhappy man on whom she lavished her assiduities been previously acquainted with her, so sudden an alteration might well have excited suspicion in his mind, or at least have greatly astonished him. Caderousse, meanwhile, continued to pace the room in gloomy silence, sedulously avoiding the sight of his guest; but as soon as the stranger had completed his repast, the agitated inn-keeper went eagerly to the door and opened it. 'I believe the storm is over,' said he. But as if to contradict his statement, at that instant a violent clap of thunder seemed to shake the house to its very foundation, while a sudden gust of wind, mingled with rain, extinguished the lamp he held in his hand. Trembling and awe-struck, Caderousse hastily shut the door and returned to his

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guest, while La Carconte lighted a candle by the smouldering ashes that glimmered on the hearth. 'You must be tired,' said she to the jeweller; 'I have spread a pair of white sheets on your bed; go up when you are ready, and sleep well.'

"Joannes stayed for a while to see whether the storm seemed to abate in its fury, but a brief space of time sufficed to assure him that, instead of diminishing, the violence of the rain and thunder momentarily increased; resigning himself, therefore, to what seemed inevitable, he bade his host good-night, and mounted the stairs. He passed over my head and I heard the flooring creak beneath his footsteps. The quick, eager glance of La Carconte followed him as he ascended, while Caderousse, on the contrary, turned his back, and seemed most anxiously to avoid even glancing at him.

"All these circumstances did not strike me as painfully at the time as they have since done; in fact, all that had happened (with the exception of the story of the diamond, which certainly did wear an air of improbability), appeared natural enough, and called for neither apprehension nor mistrust; but, worn out as I was with fatigue, and fully purposing to proceed onwards directly the tempest abated, I determined to obtain a few hours' sleep.

Overhead I could accurately distinguish every movement of the jeweller, who, after making the best arrangements in his power for passing a comfortable night, threw himself on his bed, and I could hear it creak and groan beneath his weight. Insensibly my eyelids grew heavy, deep sleep stole over me, and having no suspicion of anything wrong, I sought not to shake it off. I looked into the kitchen once more and saw Caderousse sitting by the side of a long table upon one of the low wooden stools which in country places are frequently used instead of chairs; his back was turned towards me, so that I could not see the expression of his countenance--neither should I have been able to do so had he been placed differently, as his head was buried between his two hands. La Carconte continued to gaze on him for some time, then shrugging her shoulders, she took her seat immediately opposite to him. At this moment the expiring embers threw up a fresh flame from the kindling of a piece of wood that lay near, and a bright light flashed over the room. La Carconte still kept her eyes fixed on her husband, but as he made no sign of changing his position, she extended her hard, bony hand,