The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (classic novels to read TXT) ๐
- Author: Alexandre Dumas
Book online ยซThe Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas (classic novels to read TXT) ๐ยป. Author Alexandre Dumas
โMy kind friends, leave me alone with Maximilian.โ
Julie saw the means offered of carrying off her precious relic, which Monte Cristo had forgotten. She drew her husband to the door. โLet us leave them,โ she said.
The count was alone with Morrel, who remained motionless as a statue.
โCome,โ said Monte-Cristo, touching his shoulder with his finger, โare you a man again, Maximilian?โ
โYes; for I begin to suffer again.โ
The count frowned, apparently in gloomy hesitation.
โMaximilian, Maximilian,โ he said, โthe ideas you yield to are unworthy of a Christian.โ
โOh, do not fear, my friend,โ said Morrel, raising his head, and smiling with a sweet expression on the count; โI shall no longer attempt my life.โ
โThen we are to have no more pistolsโ โno more despair?โ
โNo; I have found a better remedy for my grief than either a bullet or a knife.โ
โPoor fellow, what is it?โ
โMy grief will kill me of itself.โ
โMy friend,โ said Monte Cristo, with an expression of melancholy equal to his own, โlisten to me. One day, in a moment of despair like yours, since it led to a similar resolution, I also wished to kill myself; one day your father, equally desperate, wished to kill himself too. If anyone had said to your father, at the moment he raised the pistol to his headโ โif anyone had told me, when in my prison I pushed back the food I had not tasted for three daysโ โif anyone had said to either of us then, โLiveโ โthe day will come when you will be happy, and will bless life!โโ โno matter whose voice had spoken, we should have heard him with the smile of doubt, or the anguish of incredulityโ โand yet how many times has your father blessed life while embracing youโ โhow often have I myselfโ โโ
โAh,โ exclaimed Morrel, interrupting the count, โyou had only lost your liberty, my father had only lost his fortune, but I have lost Valentine.โ
โLook at me,โ said Monte Cristo, with that expression which sometimes made him so eloquent and persuasiveโ โโlook at me. There are no tears in my eyes, nor is there fever in my veins, yet I see you sufferโ โyou, Maximilian, whom I love as my own son. Well, does not this tell you that in grief, as in life, there is always something to look forward to beyond? Now, if I entreat, if I order you to live, Morrel, it is in the conviction that one day you will thank me for having preserved your life.โ
โOh, heavens,โ said the young man, โoh, heavensโ โwhat are you saying, count? Take care. But perhaps you have never loved!โ
โChild!โ replied the count.
โI mean, as I love. You see, I have been a soldier ever since I attained manhood. I reached the age of twenty-nine without loving, for none of the feelings I before then experienced merit the appellation of love. Well, at twenty-nine I saw Valentine; for two years I have loved her, for two years I have seen written in her heart, as in a book, all the virtues of a daughter and wife. Count, to possess Valentine would have been a happiness too infinite, too ecstatic, too complete, too divine for this world, since it has been denied me; but without Valentine the earth is desolate.โ
โI have told you to hope,โ said the count.
โThen have a care, I repeat, for you seek to persuade me, and if you succeed I should lose my reason, for I should hope that I could again behold Valentine.โ
The count smiled.
โMy friend, my father,โ said Morrel with excitement, โhave a care, I again repeat, for the power you wield over me alarms me. Weigh your words before you speak, for my eyes have already become brighter, and my heart beats strongly; be cautious, or you will make me believe in supernatural agencies. I must obey you, though you bade me call forth the dead or walk upon the water.โ
โHope, my friend,โ repeated the count.
โAh,โ said Morrel, falling from the height of excitement to the abyss of despairโ โโah, you are playing with me, like those good, or rather selfish mothers who soothe their children with honeyed words, because their screams annoy them. No, my friend, I was wrong to caution you; do not fear, I will bury my grief so deep in my heart, I will disguise it so, that you shall not even care to sympathize with me. Adieu, my friend, adieu!โ
โOn the contrary,โ said the count, โafter this time you must live with meโ โyou must not leave me, and in a week we shall have left France behind us.โ
โAnd you still bid me hope?โ
โI tell you to hope, because I have a method of curing you.โ
โCount, you render me sadder than before, if it be possible. You think the result of this blow has been to produce an ordinary grief, and you would cure it by an ordinary remedyโ โchange of scene.โ And Morrel dropped his head with disdainful incredulity.
โWhat can I say more?โ asked Monte Cristo. โI have confidence in the remedy I propose, and only ask you to permit me to assure you of its efficacy.โ
โCount, you prolong my agony.โ
โThen,โ said the count, โyour feeble spirit will not even grant me the trial I request? Comeโ โdo you know of what the Count of Monte Cristo is capable? do you know that he holds terrestrial beings under his control? nay, that he can almost work a miracle? Well, wait for the miracle I hope to accomplish, orโ โโ
โOr?โ repeated Morrel.
โOr, take care, Morrel, lest I call you ungrateful.โ
โHave pity on me, count!โ
โI feel so much pity towards you, Maximilian, thatโ โlisten to me attentivelyโ โif I do not cure you in a
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