Other
Read books online ยป Other ยป The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (classic novels to read TXT) ๐Ÿ“–

Book online ยซThe Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (classic novels to read TXT) ๐Ÿ“–ยป. Author Alexandre Dumas



1 ... 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 ... 449
Go to page:
have seen nothing that resembles him, because he works by secret springs, and moves by hidden ways. All I can do for you is to make you one of the agents of that Providence.โ€™ The bargain was concluded. I may sacrifice my soul, but what matters it?โ€ added Monte Cristo. โ€œIf the thing were to do again, I would again do it.โ€

Villefort looked at Monte Cristo with extreme amazement.

โ€œCount,โ€ he inquired, โ€œhave you any relations?โ€

โ€œNo, sir, I am alone in the world.โ€

โ€œSo much the worse.โ€

โ€œWhy?โ€ asked Monte Cristo.

โ€œBecause then you might witness a spectacle calculated to break down your pride. You say you fear nothing but death?โ€

โ€œI did not say that I feared it; I only said that death alone could check the execution of my plans.โ€

โ€œAnd old age?โ€

โ€œMy end will be achieved before I grow old.โ€

โ€œAnd madness?โ€

โ€œI have been nearly mad; and you know the axiomโ โ€”non bis in idem. It is an axiom of criminal law, and, consequently, you understand its full application.โ€

โ€œSir,โ€ continued Villefort, โ€œthere is something to fear besides death, old age, and madness. For instance, there is apoplexyโ โ€”that lightning-stroke which strikes but does not destroy you, and yet which brings everything to an end. You are still yourself as now, and yet you are yourself no longer; you who, like Ariel, verge on the angelic, are but an inert mass, which, like Caliban, verges on the brutal; and this is called in human tongues, as I tell you, neither more nor less than apoplexy. Come, if so you will, count, and continue this conversation at my house, any day you may be willing to see an adversary capable of understanding and anxious to refute you, and I will show you my father, M. Noirtier de Villefort, one of the most fiery Jacobins of the French Revolution; that is to say, he had the most remarkable audacity, seconded by a most powerful organizationโ โ€”a man who has not, perhaps, like yourself seen all the kingdoms of the earth, but who has helped to overturn one of the greatest; in fact, a man who believed himself, like you, one of the envoys, not of God, but of a supreme being; not of Providence, but of fate. Well, sir, the rupture of a blood-vessel on the lobe of the brain has destroyed all this, not in a day, not in an hour, but in a second. M. Noirtier, who, on the previous night, was the old Jacobin, the old senator, the old Carbonaro, laughing at the guillotine, the cannon, and the daggerโ โ€”M. Noirtier, playing with revolutionsโ โ€”M. Noirtier, for whom France was a vast chessboard, from which pawns, rooks, knights, and queens were to disappear, so that the king was checkmatedโ โ€”M. Noirtier, the redoubtable, was the next morning poor M. Noirtier, the helpless old man, at the tender mercies of the weakest creature in the household, that is, his grandchild, Valentine; a dumb and frozen carcass, in fact, living painlessly on, that time may be given for his frame to decompose without his consciousness of its decay.โ€

โ€œAlas, sir,โ€ said Monte Cristo โ€œthis spectacle is neither strange to my eye nor my thought. I am something of a physician, and have, like my fellows, sought more than once for the soul in living and in dead matter; yet, like Providence, it has remained invisible to my eyes, although present to my heart. A hundred writers since Socrates, Seneca, St. Augustine, and Gall, have made, in verse and prose, the comparison you have made, and yet I can well understand that a fatherโ€™s sufferings may effect great changes in the mind of a son. I will call on you, sir, since you bid me contemplate, for the advantage of my pride, this terrible spectacle, which must have been so great a source of sorrow to your family.โ€

โ€œIt would have been so unquestionably, had not God given me so large a compensation. In contrast with the old man, who is dragging his way to the tomb, are two children just entering into lifeโ โ€”Valentine, the daughter by my first wifeโ โ€”Mademoiselle Renรฉe de Saint-Mรฉranโ โ€”and Edward, the boy whose life you have this day saved.โ€

โ€œAnd what is your deduction from this compensation, sir?โ€ inquired Monte Cristo.

โ€œMy deduction is,โ€ replied Villefort, โ€œthat my father, led away by his passions, has committed some fault unknown to human justice, but marked by the justice of God. That God, desirous in his mercy to punish but one person, has visited this justice on him alone.โ€

Monte Cristo with a smile on his lips, uttered in the depths of his soul a groan which would have made Villefort fly had he but heard it.

โ€œAdieu, sir,โ€ said the magistrate, who had risen from his seat; โ€œI leave you, bearing a remembrance of youโ โ€”a remembrance of esteem, which I hope will not be disagreeable to you when you know me better; for I am not a man to bore my friends, as you will learn. Besides, you have made an eternal friend of Madame de Villefort.โ€

The count bowed, and contented himself with seeing Villefort to the door of his cabinet, the procureur being escorted to his carriage by two footmen, who, on a signal from their master, followed him with every mark of attention. When he had gone, Monte Cristo breathed a profound sigh, and said:

โ€œEnough of this poison, let me now seek the antidote.โ€

Then sounding his bell, he said to Ali, who entered:

โ€œI am going to madameโ€™s chamberโ โ€”have the carriage ready at one oโ€™clock.โ€

XLIX Haydรฉe

It will be recollected that the new, or rather old, acquaintances of the Count of Monte Cristo, residing in the Rue Meslay, were no other than Maximilian, Julie, and Emmanuel.

The very anticipations of delight to be enjoyed in his forthcoming visitsโ โ€”the bright, pure gleam of heavenly happiness it diffused over the almost deadly warfare in which he had voluntarily engaged, illumined his whole countenance with a look of ineffable joy and calmness, as, immediately after Villefortโ€™s departure, his thoughts flew back to the

1 ... 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 ... 449
Go to page:

Free ebook ยซThe Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (classic novels to read TXT) ๐Ÿ“–ยป - read online now

Comments (0)

There are no comments yet. You can be the first!
Add a comment