Literary Love

by Gabrielle Vigot

  “What circumlocution! How long you are before you tell me what I most wish to know?”

  “Because, in truth, Albert”—

  “You hesitate?”

  “Yes,—I fear.”

  “You fear to acknowledge that your correspondent his deceived you? Oh, no self-love, Beauchamp. Acknowledge it, Beauchamp; your courage cannot be doubted.”

  “Not so,” murmured the journalist; “on the contrary”—

  Albert turned frightfully pale; he endeavored to speak, but the words died on his lips. “My friend,” said Beauchamp, in the most affectionate tone, “I should gladly make an apology; but, alas,”—

  “But what?”

  “The paragraph was correct, my friend.”

  “What? That French officer”—

  “Yes.”

  “Fernand?”

  “Yes.”

  “The traitor who surrendered the castle of the man in whose service he was”—

  “Pardon me, my friend, that man was your father!” Albert advanced furiously towards Beauchamp, but the latter restrained him more by a mild look than by his extended hand.

  “My friend,” said he, “here is a proof of it.”

  Albert opened the paper, it was an attestation of four notable inhabitants of Yanina, proving that Colonel Fernand Mondego, in the service of Ali Tepelini, had surrendered the castle for two million crowns. The signatures were perfectly legal. Albert tottered and fell overpowered in a chair. It could no longer be doubted; the family name was fully given. After a moment’s mournful silence, his heart overflowed, and he gave way to a flood of tears. Beauchamp, who had watched with sincere pity the young man’s paroxysm of grief, approached him. “Now, Albert,” said he, “you understand me—do you not? I wished to see all, and to judge of everything for myself, hoping the explanation would be in your father’s favor, and that I might do him justice. But, on the contrary, the particulars which are given prove that Fernand Mondego, raised by Ali Pasha to the rank of governor-general, is no other than Count Fernand of Morcerf; then, recollecting the honor you had done me, in admitting me to your friendship, I hastened to you.”

  Albert, still extended on the chair, covered his face with both hands, as if to prevent the light from reaching him. “I hastened to you,” continued Beauchamp, “to tell you, Albert, that in this changing age, the faults of a father cannot revert upon his children. Few have passed through this revolutionary period, in the midst of which we were born, without some stain of infamy or blood to soil the uniform of the soldier, or the gown of the magistrate. Now I have these proofs, Albert, and I am in your confidence, no human power can force me to a duel which your own conscience would reproach you with as criminal, but I come to offer you what you can no longer demand of me. Do you wish these proofs, these attestations, which I alone possess, to be destroyed? Do you wish this frightful secret to remain with us? Confided to me, it shall never escape my lips; say, Albert, my friend, do you wish it?”

  Albert threw himself on Beauchamp’s neck. “Ah, noble fellow!” cried he.

  “Take these,” said Beauchamp, presenting the papers to Albert.

  Albert seized them with a convulsive hand, tore them in pieces, and trembling lest the least vestige should escape and one day appear to confront him, he approached the waxlight, always kept burning for cigars, and burned every fragment. “Dear, excellent friend,” murmured Albert, still burning the papers.

  “Let all be forgotten as a sorrowful dream,” said Beauchamp; “let it vanish as the last sparks from the blackened paper, and disappear as the smoke from those silent ashes.”

  “Yes, yes,” said Albert, “and may there remain only the eternal friendship which I promised to my deliverer, which shall be transmitted to our children’s children, and shall always remind me that I owe my life and the honor of my name to you,—for had this been known, oh, Beauchamp, I should have destroyed myself; or,—no, my poor mother! I could not have killed her by the same blow,—I should have fled from my country.”

  “Dear Albert,” said Beauchamp. But this sudden and factitious joy soon forsook the young man, and was succeeded by a still greater grief.

  “Well,” said Beauchamp, “what still oppresses you, my friend?”

  “I am brokenhearted,” said Albert. “Listen, Beauchamp! I cannot thus, in a moment relinquish the respect, the confidence, and pride with which a father’s untarnished name inspires a son. Oh, Beauchamp, Beauchamp, how shall I now approach mine? Shall I draw back my forehead from his embrace, or withhold my hand from his? I am the most wretched of men. Ah, my mother, my poor mother!” said Albert, gazing through his tears at his mother’s portrait; “if you know this, how much must you suffer!”

  “Come,” said Beauchamp, taking both his hands, “take courage, my friend.”

  “But how came that first note to be inserted in your journal? Some unknown enemy—an invisible foe—has done this.”

  “The more must you fortify yourself, Albert. Let no trace of emotion be visible on your countenance, bear your grief as the cloud bears within it ruin and death—a fatal secret, known only when the storm bursts. Go, my friend, reserve your strength for the moment when the crash shall come.”

  “You think, then, all is not over yet?” said Albert, horror-stricken.

  “I think nothing, my friend; but all things are possible. By the way”—

  “What?” said Albert, seeing that Beauchamp hesitated.

  “Are you going to marry Mademoiselle Danglars?”

  “Why do you ask me now?”

  “Because the rupture or fulfillment of this engagement is connected with the person of whom we were speaking.”

  “How?” said Albert, whose brow reddened; “you think M. Danglars”—

  “I ask you only how your engagement stands? Pray put no construction on my words I do not mean they should convey, and give them no undue weight.”

  “No.” said Albert, “the engagement is broken off.”

  “Well,” said Beauchamp. Then, seeing the young man was about to relapse into melancholy, “Let us go out, Albert,” said he; “a ride in the wood in the phaeton, or on horseback, will refresh you; we will then return to breakfast, and you shall attend to your affairs, and I to mine.”

  “Willingly,” said Albert; “but let us walk. I think a little exertion would do me good.” The two friends walked out on the fortress. When arrived at the Madeleine,—“Since we are out,” said Beauchamp, “let us call on M. de Monte Cristo; he is admirably adapted to revive one’s spirits, because he never interrogates, and in my opinion those who ask no questions are the best comforters.”

  “Gladly,” said Albert; “I love him—let us call.”

  Chapter 20. The Journey.

  Monte Cristo uttered a joyful exclamation on seeing the young men together. “Ah, ha!” said he, “I hope all is over, explained and settled.”

  “Yes,” said Beauchamp; “the absurd reports have died away, and should they be renewed, I would be the first to oppose them; so let us speak no more of it.”

  “Albert will tell you,” replied the count “that I gave him the same advice. Look,” added he. “I am finishing the most execrable morning’s work.”

  “What is it?” said Albert; “arranging your papers, apparently.”

  “My papers, thank God, no,—my papers are all in capital order, because I have none; but M. Cavalcanti’s.”

  “M. Cavalcanti’s?” asked Beauchamp.

  “Yes; do you not know that this is a young man whom the count is introducing?” said Morcerf.

  “Let us not misunderstand each other,” replied Monte Cristo; “I introduce no one, and certainly not M. Cavalcanti.”

  “And who,” said Albert with a forced smile, “is to marry Mademoiselle Danglars instead of me, which grieves me cruelly.”

  “What? Cavalcanti is going to marry Mademoiselle Danglars?” asked Beauchamp.

  “Certainly; do you come from the end of the world?” said Monte Cristo; “you,
a journalist, the husband of renown? It is the talk of all Paris.”

  “And you, count, have made this match?” asked Beauchamp.

  “I? Silence, Purveyor of Gossip, do not spread that report. I make a match? No, you do not know me; I have done all in my power to oppose it.”

  “Ah, I understand,” said Beauchamp, “on our friend Albert’s account.”

  “On my account?” said the young man; “oh, no, indeed, the count will do me the justice to assert that I have, on the contrary, always entreated him to break off my engagement, and happily it is ended. The count pretends I have not him to thank;—so be it—I will erect an altar Deo ignoto.”

  “Listen,” said Monte Cristo; “I have had little to do with it, for I am at variance both with the father-in-law and the young man; there is only Mademoiselle Eugenie, who appears but little charmed with the thoughts of matrimony, and who, seeing how little I was disposed to persuade her to renounce her dear liberty, retains any affection for me.”

  “And do you say this wedding is at hand?”

  “Oh, yes, in spite of all I could say. I do not know the young man; he is said to be of good family and rich, but I never trust to vague assertions. I have warned M. Danglars of it till I am tired, but he is fascinated with his Luccanese. I have even informed him of a circumstance I consider very serious; the young man was either charmed by his nurse, stolen by gypsies, or lost by his tutor, I scarcely know which. But I do know his father lost sight of him for more than ten years; what he did during these ten years, God only knows. Well, all that was useless. They have commissioned me to write to the major to demand papers, and here they are. I send them, but like Pilate—washing my hands.”

  “And what does Mademoiselle d’Armilly say to you for robbing her of her pupil?”

  “Oh, well, I don’t know; but I understand that she is going to Italy. Madame Danglars asked me for letters of recommendation for the impresari; I gave her a few lines for the director of the Valle Theatre, who is under some obligation to me. But what is the matter, Albert? You look dull; are you, after all, unconsciously in love with Mademoiselle Eugenie?”

  “I am not aware of it,” said Albert, smiling sorrowfully. Beauchamp turned to look at some paintings. “But,” continued Monte Cristo, “you are not in your usual spirits?”

  “I have a dreadful headache,” said Albert.

  “Well, my dear viscount,” said Monte Cristo, “I have an infallible remedy to propose to you.”

  “What is that?” asked the young man.

  “A change.”

  “Indeed?” said Albert.

  “Yes; and as I am just now excessively annoyed, I shall go from home. Shall we go together?”

  “You annoyed, count?” said Beauchamp; “and by what?”

  “Ah, you think very lightly of it; I should like to see you with a brief preparing in your house.”

  “What brief?”

  “The one M. de Villefort is preparing against my amiable assassin—some brigand escaped from the gallows apparently.”

  “True,” said Beauchamp; “I saw it in the paper. Who is this Caderousse?”

  “Some provincial, it appears. M. de Villefort heard of him at Marseilles, and M. Danglars recollects having seen him. Consequently, the procureur is very active in the affair, and the prefect of police very much interested; and, thanks to that interest, for which I am very grateful, they send me all the robbers of Paris and the neighborhood, under pretence of their being Caderousse’s murderers, so that in three months, if this continues, every robber and assassin in France will have the plan of my house at his fingers’ end. I am resolved to desert them and go to some remote corner of the earth, and shall be happy if you will accompany me, viscount.”

  “Willingly.”

  “Then it is settled?”

  “Yes, but where?”

  “I have told you, where the air is pure, where every sound soothes, where one is sure to be humbled, however proud may be his nature. I love that humiliation, I, who am master of the universe, as was Augustus.”

  “But where are you really going?”

  “To sea, viscount; you know I am a sailor. I was rocked when an infant in the arms of old ocean, and on the bosom of the beautiful Amphitrite; I have sported with the green mantle of the one and the azure robe of the other; I love the sea as a mistress, and pine if I do not often see her.”

  “Let us go, count.”

  “To sea?”

  “Yes.”

  “You accept my proposal?”

  “I do.”

  “Well, Viscount, there will be in my courtyard this evening a good travelling britzka, with four posthorses, in which one may rest as in a bed. M. Beauchamp, it holds four very well, will you accompany us?”

  “Thank you, I have just returned from sea.”

  “What? you have been to sea?”

  “Yes; I have just made a little excursion to the Borromean Islands.”

  “What of that? come with us,” said Albert.

  “No, dear Morcerf; you know I only refuse when the thing is impossible. Besides, it is important,” added he in a low tone, “that I should remain in Paris just now to watch the paper.”

  “Ah, you are a good and an excellent friend,” said Albert; “yes, you are right; watch, watch, Beauchamp, and try to discover the enemy who mad this disclosure.” Albert and Beauchamp parted, the last pressure of their hands expressing what their tongues could not before a stranger.

  “Beauchamp is a worthy fellow,” said Monte Cristo, when the journalist was gone; “is he not, Albert?”

  “Yes, and a sincere friend; I love him devotedly. But now we are alone,—although it is immaterial to me,—where are we going?”

  “Into Normandy, if you like.”

  “Delightful; shall we be quite retired? have no society, no neighbors?”

  “Our companions will be riding-horses, dogs to hunt with, and a fishing-boat.”

  “Exactly what I wish for; I will apprise my mother of my intention, and return to you.”

  “But shall you be allowed to go into Normandy?”

  “I may go where I please.”

  “Yes, I am aware you may go alone, since I once met you in Italy—but to accompany the mysterious Monte Cristo?”

  “You forget, count, that I have often told you of the deep interest my mother takes in you.”

  “‘Woman is fickle.’ said Francis I.; ‘woman is like a wave of the sea,’ said Shakespeare; both the great king and the great poet ought to have known woman’s nature well.”

  “Woman’s, yes; my mother is not woman, but a woman.”

  “As I am only a humble foreigner, you must pardon me if I do not understand all the subtle refinements of your language.”

  “What I mean to say is, that my mother is not quick to give her confidence, but when she does she never changes.”

  “Ah, yes, indeed,” said Monte Cristo with a sigh; “and do you think she is in the least interested in me?”

  “I repeat it, you must really be a very strange and superior man, for my mother is so absorbed by the interest you have excited, that when I am with her she speaks of no one else.”

  “And does she try to make you dislike me?”

  “On the contrary, she often says, ‘Morcerf, I believe the count has a noble nature; try to gain his esteem.’“

  “Indeed?” said Monte Cristo, sighing.

  “You see, then,” said Albert, “that instead of opposing, she will encourage me.”

  “Adieu, then, until five o’clock; be punctual, and we shall arrive at twelve or one.”

  “At Treport?”

  “Yes; or in the neighborhood.”

  “But can we travel forty-eight leagues in eight hours?”

  “Easily,” said Monte Cristo.

  “You are certainly a prodigy; you will soon not only surpass the railway, which would not be very difficult in France, but even the telegraph.”

  “But, viscount, since we cannot perform the jour
ney in less than seven or eight hours, do not keep me waiting.”

  “Do not fear, I have little to prepare.” Monte Cristo smiled as he nodded to Albert, then remained a moment absorbed in deep meditation. But passing his hand across his forehead as if to dispel his reverie, he rang the bell twice and Bertuccio entered. “Bertuccio,” said he, “I intend going this evening to Normandy, instead of tomorrow or the next day. You will have sufficient time before five o’clock; dispatch a messenger to apprise the grooms at the first station. M. de Morcerf will accompany me.” Bertuccio obeyed and despatched a courier to Pontoise to say the travelling-carriage would arrive at six o’clock. From Pontoise another express was sent to the next stage, and in six hours all the horses stationed on the road were ready. Before his departure, the count went to Haidee’s apartments, told her his intention, and resigned everything to her care. Albert was punctual. The journey soon became interesting from its rapidity, of which Morcerf had formed no previous idea. “Truly,” said Monte Cristo, “with your posthorses going at the rate of two leagues an hour, and that absurd law that one traveller shall not pass another without permission, so that an invalid or ill-tempered traveller may detain those who are well and active, it is impossible to move; I escape this annoyance by travelling with my own postilion and horses; do I not, Ali?”

  The count put his head out of the window and whistled, and the horses appeared to fly. The carriage rolled with a thundering noise over the pavement, and every one turned to notice the dazzling meteor. Ali, smiling, repeated the sound, grasped the reins with a firm hand, and spurred his horses, whose beautiful manes floated in the breeze. This child of the desert was in his element, and with his black face and sparkling eyes appeared, in the cloud of dust he raised, like the genius of the simoom and the god of the hurricane. “I never knew till now the delight of speed,” said Morcerf, and the last cloud disappeared from his brow; “but where the devil do you get such horses? Are they made to order?”