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Faria had now fully regained his consciousness, but he still lay helpless and exhausted. "I did not expect to see you again," said he feebly, to Dantes. "And why not?" asked the young man. "Did you fancy yourself dying?" "No, I had no such idea; but, knowing that all was ready for flight, I thought you might have made your escape." The deep glow of indignation suffused the cheeks of Dantes.
"The morrow!" exclaimed M. Dantès; "that morrow decides the fate of France!" And the friends parted. The 23d of February dawned on Paris as a city under arms. Artillery frowned in all the public places; the barricades of the preceding night had been thrown down as fast as erected; National Guards thronged the thoroughfares; the people swarmed along the boulevards.
At this moment a shadow passed rapidly before the opening; Dantes seized his gun, sprang through the opening, and mounted the stair. A wild goat had passed before the mouth of the cave, and was feeding at a little distance. This would have been a favorable occasion to secure his dinner; but Dantes feared lest the report of his gun should attract attention.
All his sorrows, all his sufferings, with their train of gloomy spectres, fled from his cell when the angel of death seemed about to enter. Dantes reviewed his past life with composure, and, looking forward with terror to his future existence, chose that middle line that seemed to afford him a refuge.
Within this chamber was a man, who, with arms crossed upon his bosom and eyes fastened in profound and seemingly mournful contemplation upon the floor, slowly paced from one extremity of the spacious apartment to the other. This man was M. Dantès, representative of Marseilles in the French Chamber of Deputies. "At last, at last," he murmured, "the avenging Nemesis ceases to gnaw!
The second in whose way Edmond Dantes had stood was a man named Danglars. An officer on board the Pharaon, he had hoped to obtain the position of captain. Now he had become one of the principal bankers of the capital.
"Certainly not, if, as you said just now, you have the means of having Dantes arrested. Have you that means?" "It is to be found for the searching. But why should I meddle in the matter? it is no affair of mine."
"Shall I reveal to you the Ministerial tactics for the morrow's apprehended insurrection?" coolly asked Dantès, with a smile. "The salons of the Tuileries have not been deserted to-night. 'Can you quell an insurrection, General? asked the King of the Marshal Duke of Islay. 'I can kill thirty thousand men, was the humane answer.
Dantes ran down the rocks at the risk of being himself dashed to pieces; he listened, he groped about, but he heard and saw nothing the cries had ceased, and the tempest continued to rage. By degrees the wind abated, vast gray clouds rolled towards the west, and the blue firmament appeared studded with bright stars.
Ample corroboration of this statement may be obtained by arresting the above-mentioned Edmond Dantes, who either carries the letter for Paris about with him, or has it at his father's abode. Should it not be found in the possession of father or son, then it will assuredly be discovered in the cabin belonging to the said Dantes on board the Pharaon."
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