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The wretched man, knowing that the blow came from Monte-Cristo, went to him to provoke a quarrel. Then Monte-Cristo said to him: "Look me full in the face, Fernando, and you will understand the whole. I am Edmond Dantès." And the man fled. Within an hour he blew out his brains. Then came the turn of de Villefort.
"That Giovanni Massetti who has been disowned and disinherited by his father for the commission of one of the vilest and most dishonorable crimes known to the world?" "The same!" answered Monte-Cristo, calmly. Mme. de Rancogne was now more astounded than ever. "You know this man's record and yet you allow him to win your daughter! Count, this is not like you! I cannot understand it!"
The count had been rewarded for his generosity by having his cabin broken open, the contents of his safe scattered about, and being told to beware of the Khouans. What the Fenians are to Ireland, the Thugs to India, the Khouans are to Arabia. They formed a brotherhood whose object was the murder and annihilation of all Europeans and Christians. Monte-Cristo knew the savage nature of these enemies.
"The Count of Monte-Cristo you mean?" remarked one of the party. "Yes, the Count of Monte-Cristo, who has done so much for us all and whose wife is nothing less than an angel of goodness and charity." "You rescued him, did you not, Alexis?" "I found him lying upon the beach, with the lady who is now his wife tightly clasped in his arms, so tightly that I had no end of trouble to separate them.
Nevertheless, in a literary magazine of recent date, published in New York, it was gravely stated by a writer that "there was a rumor, probably not well founded, that the author of Monte-Cristo had a very distant strain of Negro blood."
In the 'Count of Monte-Cristo' the shortcomings and faults of the government after the overthrow of the great emperor are unsparingly exposed, and in the same way every work of the great novelist offers special merits. The more I think of it the more clearly I understand it, that we also have in your friend, Madame Joliette, a character of the novel before us.
Monte-Cristo sat for an instant after he had concluded like one stupefied, so utterly overwhelmed was he by the unexpected and distracting intelligence. Then he sprang to his feet and began pacing the room, muttering as he walked: "So the wretches have seized my daughter and servant by way of reprisals and intend to hold them as hostages for the safety of Luigi Vampa! What is to be done?
"How dare you," she cried, her eyes flashing and her voice tremulous with anger, "come here, to me, after what has occurred to-night!" "I was not aware, Louise," answered he, apologetically, "that you had such a terrible aversion to the Count of Monte-Cristo." "The Count of Monte-Cristo!" exclaimed the director. "Was he in the house this evening? What an honor!"
Finally, unable longer to endure the uncertainty and suspense, the Viscount cautiously opened his door and glanced out into the corridor. His eyes rested upon Monte-Cristo, Peppino and Beppo. The former saw him and at once came to him. "What has happened?" demanded Massetti, eagerly. "Luigi Vampa was here and has been taken away a prisoner by the police," answered the Count.
Zuleika lifted her hands in protest, exclaiming: "You could not, dear father, appear ridiculous in my eyes, no matter in what garb you were clothed!" Monte-Cristo smiled approvingly, but a trifle incredulously and quitted the circular apartment. When he returned he was clad in the costume he had worn on coming from the yacht.
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