Part 108 (1/2)
”Once more farewell, my dear sister; Emmanuel, adieu!” Morrel repeated
”His carelessness and indifference touch me to the heart,” said Julie ”Oh, Maxi from us”
”Pshaw!” said Monte Cristo, ”you will see hi, and joyful”
Maxier, on the count
”We must leave you,” said Monte Cristo
”Before you quit us, count,” said Julie, ”will you permit us to express to you all that the other day”-- ”Mada her two hands in his, ”all that you could say in words would never express what I read in your eyes; the thoughts of your heart are fully understood by mine Like benefactors in roain, but that would have been a virtue beyond th, because I am a weak and vain lances of otiset ain'”
”Never see you again?” exclaie tears rolled down Julie's cheeks, ”never behold you again? It is not a el is on the point of returning to heaven after having appeared on earth to do good”
”Say not so,” quickly returned Monte Cristo--”say not so, s remain where they wish to be Fate is not more powerful than they; it is they who, on the contrary, overcome fate No, Emmanuel, I am but a man, and your adious” And pressing his lips on the hand of Julie, who rushed into his ar hin to Maximilian, who followed him passively, with the indifference which had been perceptible in him ever since the death of Valentine had so stunned him ”Restore my brother to peace and happiness,” whispered Julie to Monte Cristo And the count pressed her hand in reply, as he had done eleven years before on the staircase leading to Morrel's study
”You still confide, then, in Sinbad the Sailor?” asked he, s
”Oh, yes,” was the ready answer
”Well, then, sleep in peace, and put your trust in heaven” As we have before said, the postchaise aiting; four powerful horses were already pawing the ground with i walk, was standing at the foot of the steps, his face bathed in perspiration ”Well,” asked the count in Arabic, ”have you been to see the old n in the affirmative
”And have you placed the letter before hinalized that he had ”And what did he say, or rather do?” Ali placed hiht see hient manner the countenance of the old man, he closed his eyes, as Noirtier was in the custo ”Yes”
”Good; he accepts,” said Monte Cristo ”Now let us go”
These words had scarcely escaped hie was on its way, and the feet of the horses struck a shower of sparks from the pavement Maxi a word Half an hour had passed when the carriage stopped suddenly; the count had just pulled the silken check-string, which was fastened to Ali's finger The Nubian ie door It was a lovely starlight night--they had just reached the top of the hill Villejuif, fro its ht--waves indeed eable, reedy, than those of the tempestuous ocean,--waves which never rest as those of the sea soulfing what falls within their grasp The count stood alone, and at a sign froe went on for a short distance With folded arreat city When he had fixed his piercing look on this es the conteious enthusiast, the materialist, and the scoffer,--”Great city,”his hands as if in prayer, ”less than six ates I believe that the Spirit of God led my steps to thee and that he also enables me to quit thee in triumph; the secret cause of my presence within thy walls I have confided alone to him who only has had the power to read my heart God only knows that I retire frorets; he only knows that the power confided to ood or to any useless cause Oh, great city, it is in thy palpitating bosoht; like a patientdeep into thy very entrails to root out evil thence Noork is accomplished, my mission is terminated, now thou canst neither afford me pain nor pleasure Adieu, Paris, adieu!”
His look wandered over the vast plain like that of soot into the carriage, the door was closed on him, and the vehicle quickly disappeared down the other side of the hill in a ind of noise and dust
Ten leagues were passed and not a single as uttered
Morrel was drea at the dreath, ”do you repent having followed ht happiness ht await you in Paris, Morrel, I would have left you there”
”Valentine reposes within the walls of Paris, and to leave Paris is like losing her a second time”
”Maximilian,” said the count, ”the friends that we have lost do not repose in the bosom of the earth, but are buried deep in our hearts, and it has been thus ordained that we may always be accompanied by them I have two friends, who in this way never depart fro, and the other who conferred knowledge and intelligence on me Their spirits live in ood, it is due to their beneficent counsels Listen to the voice of your heart, Morrel, and ask it whether you ought to preserve this melancholy exterior towards me”
”My friend,” said Maximilian, ”the voice ofbut misfortune”
”It is the way of weakened h a black cloud The soul forms its own horizons; your soul is darkened, and consequently the sky of the future appears stor”
”That ain subsided into his thoughtful mood
The journey was performed with that marvellous rapidity which the unlimited power of the count ever commanded Towns fled from them like shadows on their path, and trees shaken by the first winds of autu on toas rapidly when once reached The followingthey arrived at Chalons, where the count's steamboat waited for thee was placed on board and the two travellers embarked without delay The boat was built for speed; her two paddle-wheels were like tings hich she skimmed the water like a bird Morrel was not insensible to that sensation of delight which is generally experienced in passing rapidly through the air, and the hich occasionally raised the hair fro momentarily the clouds collected there
As the distance increased between the travellers and Paris, almost superhuht have been taken for an exile about to revisit his native land Ere long Marseilles presented herself to view,--Marseilles, white, fervid, full of life and energy,--Marseilles, the younger sister of Tyre and Carthage, the successor to them in the empire of the Mediterranean,--Marseilles, old, yet always young Powerful ht of the round tower, Fort Saint-Nicolas, the City Hall designed by Puget, [] the port with its brick quays, where they had both played in childhood, and it ith one accord that they stopped on the Cannebiere A vessel was setting sail for Algiers, on board of which the bustle usually attending departure prevailed The passengers and their relations crowded on the deck, friends taking a tender but sorrowful leave of each other, so a spectacle that hts daily, but which had no power to disturb the current of thought that had taken possession of the mind of Maximilian from the moment he had set foot on the broad paveet, the sculptor-architect, was born at Marseilles in 1622
”Here,” said he, leaning heavily on the arm of Monte Cristo,--”here is the spot where my father stopped, when the Pharaon entered the port; it was here that the good old man, whom you saved from death and dishonor, threw himself into my arms I yet feel his warm tears on my face, and his were not the only tears shed, for ently s to the corner of a street As he spoke, and in the very direction he indicated, a groan, expressive of bitter grief, was heard, and a woer on board the vessel about to sail Monte Cristo looked at her with an emotion that must have been remarked by Morrel had not his eyes been fixed on the vessel
”Oh, heavens!” exclaihis hat, that youth in the uniform of a lieutenant, is Albert de Morcerf!”
”Yes,” said Monte Cristo, ”I recognized hi the other way” the Count s when he did not want to ain turned towards the veiled wo to his friend,--”Dear Maxi to do in this land?”
”I have to weep over the grave of my father,” replied Morrel in a broken voice
”Well, then, go,--wait for me there, and I will soon join you”
”You leave me, then?”
”Yes; I also have a pious visit to pay”
Morrel allowed his hand to fall into that which the count extended to him; then with an inexpressibly sorrowful inclination of the head he quitted the count and bent his steps to the east of the city Monte Cristo reht; he then walked slowly towards the Allees de Meillan to seek out a small house hich our readers wereof this story It yet stood, under the shade of the fine avenue of lime-trees, which forms one of the most frequent walks of the idlers of Marseilles, covered by an ied and blackened branches over the stone front, burnt yellow by the ardent sun of the south Two stone steps worn away by the friction of many feet led to the door, which was made of three planks; the door had never been painted or varnished, so great cracks yawned in it during the dry season to close again when the rains ca antiquity and apparent misery, was yet cheerful and picturesque, and was the same that old Dantes for that the old arret, while the whole house was now placed at the command of Mercedes by the count
The woman whoret entered this house; she had scarcely closed the door after her when Monte Cristo appeared at the corner of a street, so that he found and lost her again almost at the same instant The worn out steps were old acquaintances of his; he knew better than any one else how to open that weather-beaten door with the large headed nail which served to raise the latch within He entered without knocking, or giving any other intimation of his presence, as if he had been a friend or the e paved with bricks, was a little garden, bathed in sunshi+ne, and rich in wararden Mercedes had found, at the place indicated by the count, the suh a sense of delicacy, had described as having been placed there twenty-four years previously The trees of the garden were easily seen fro into the house, heard a sigh that was almost a deep sob; he looked in the direction whence it cainia jessa purple flowers, he saw Mercedes seated, with her head bowed, and weeping bitterly She had raised her veil, and with her face hidden by her hands was giving free scope to the sighs and tears which had been so long restrained by the presence of her son Monte Cristo advanced a few steps, which were heard on the gravel Mercedes raised her head, and uttered a cry of terror on beholding a inia--jessa not a jessamine at all) has yellow blossoms The reference is no doubt to the Wistaria frutescens--Ed
”Madaer in my power to restore you to happiness, but I offer you consolation; will you deign to accept it as co from a friend?”
”I am, indeed, most wretched,” replied Mercedes ”Alone in the world, I had but my son, and he has left me!”
”He possesses a noble heart, htly He feels that every man owes a tribute to his country; some contribute their talents, others their industry; these devote their blood, those their nightly labors, to the same cause Had he remained with you, his life must have become a hateful burden, nor would he have participated in your griefs He will increase in strength and honor by struggling with adversity, which he will convert into prosperity Leave him to build up the future for you, and I venture to say you will confide it to safe hands”
”Oh,” replied the wretched wo her head, ”the prosperity of which you speak, and which, frorant him, I can never enjoy The bitter cup of adversity has been drained by rave is not far distant You have acted kindly, count, in bringing ht to meet death on the same spot where happiness was once all my own”
”Alas,” said Monte Cristo, ”your words sear and embitter my heart, the more so as you have every reason to hate me I have been the cause of all yourme? You render me still more unhappy”-- ”Hate you, blame you--you, Edmond! Hate, reproach, the man that has spared uinary intention to destroy that son of whom M de Morcerf was so proud? Oh, look at me closely, and discover if you can even the semblance of a reproach in me” The count looked up and fixed his eyes on Mercedes, who arose partly from her seat and extended both her hands towards hi of profound er dazzle by their brilliancy, for the ti fled since I used to smile on Edmond Dantes, who anxiously looked out for arret, then inhabited by his old father Years of grief have created an abyss between those days and the present I neither reproach you nor hate you, my friend Oh, no, Edmond, it is myself that I blame, myself that I hate! Oh,her hands, and raising her eyes to heaven ”I once possessed piety, innocence, and love, the three ingredients of the happiness of angels, and nohat am I?” Monte Cristo approached her, and silently took her hand ”No,” said she, withdrawing it gently--”no, my friend, touch me not You have spared eance I was the uilty They were influenced by hatred, by avarice, and by self-love; but I was base, and for want of courage acted against , I am sure, of some kind speech to console me, but do not utter it to me, reserve it for others more worthy of your kindness See” (and she exposed her face completely to view)--”see, misfortune has silvered my hair, my eyes have shed so many tears that they are encircled by a rim of purple, and my brorinkled You, Ednified; it is because you have had faith; because you have had strength, because you have had trust in God, and God has sustained you But as for me, I have been a coward; I have denied God and he has abandoned me”
Mercedes burst into tears; her wo under its load of memories Monte Cristo took her hand and imprinted a kiss on it; but she herself felt that it was a kiss of no greater warmth than he would have bestowed on the hand of some marble statue of a saint ”It often happens,” continued she, ”that a first fault destroys the prospects of a whole life I believed you dead; why did I survive you? What good has it done me to mourn for you eternally in the secret recesses of my heart?--only to make a wo recognized you, and I the only one to do so--as I able to save ht I not also to have rescued the h he were? Yet I let him die! What do I say? Oh, merciful heavens, was I not accessory to his death by my supine insensibility, byto remember, that it was for my sake he had become a traitor and a perjurer? In what a my son so far, since I now abandon him, and allow him to depart alone to the baneful climate of Africa? Oh, I have been base, cowardly, I tell you; I have abjured ades I am of evil omen to those who surround e yourself with too much severity You are a noble-rief that disarent, led on by an invisible and offended Deity, who chose not to withhold the fatal blow that I was destined to hurl I take that God to witness, at whose feet I have prostrated myself daily for the last ten years, that I would have sacrificed my life to you, and with my life the projects that were indissolubly linked with it But--and I say it with some pride, Mercedes--God needed me, and I lived Examine the past and the present, and endeavor to dive into futurity, and then say whether I am not a divine instruhtful sufferings, the abandonment of all those who loved me, the persecution of those who did not know me, formed the trials of my youth; when suddenly, froht and liberty, and became the possessor of a fortune so brilliant, so unbounded, so unheard-of, that I must have been blind not to be conscious that God had endowed ns Fro confided to iven to a life which you once, Mercedes, had the power to render blissful; not one hour of peaceful cal angel Like adventurous captains about to eer, I laid in my provisions, I loaded my weapons, I collected every means of attack and defence; I inured my body to the most violent exercises, ht s, and my mouth to s, and forgiving as I had been, I beca, and wicked, or rather, immovable as fate Then I launched out into the path that was opened to oal; but woe to those who stood in h, Ednized you has been the only one to comprehend you; and had she crossed your path, and you had crushed her like glass, still, Edulf between me and the past, there is an abyss between you, Edmond, and the rest of mankind; and I tell you freely that the comparison I draeen you and other reatest tortures No, there is nothing in the world to reseoodness! But we must say farewell, Edmond, and let us part”