M. D'Avrigny soon restored the magistrate to consciousness, who
had looked like a second corpse in that chamber of death. "Oh,
death is in my house!" cried Villefort.
"Say, rather, crime!" replied the doctor.
"M. d'Avrigny," cried Villefort, "I cannot tell you all I feel
at this moment, — terror, grief, madness."
"Yes," said M. d'Avrigny, with an imposing calmness, "but I
think it is now time to act. I think it is time to stop this
torrent of mortality. I can no longer bear to be in possession of
these secrets without the hope of seeing the victims and society
generally revenged." Villefort cast a gloomy look around him. "In
my house," murmured he, "in my house!"
"Come, magistrate," said M. d'Avrigny, "show yourself a man; as
an interpreter of the law, do honor to your profession by
sacrificing your selfish interests to it."
"You make me shudder, doctor. Do you talk of a sacrifice?"
"I do."
"Do you then suspect any one?"
"I suspect no one; death raps at your door — it enters — it
goes, not blindfolded, but circumspectly, from room to room. Well,
I follow its course, I track its passage; I adopt the wisdom of the
ancients, and feel my way, for my friendship for your family and my
respect for you are as a twofold bandage over my eyes; well" —
"Oh, speak, speak, doctor; I shall have courage."
"Well, sir, you have in your establishment, or in your family,
perhaps, one of the frightful monstrosities of which each century
produces only one. Locusta and Agrippina, living at the same time,
were an exception, and proved the determination of providence to
effect the entire ruin of the Roman empire, sullied by so many
crimes. Brunehilde and Fredegonde were the results of the painful
struggle of civilization in its infancy, when man was learning to
control mind, were it even by an emissary from the realms of
darkness. All these women had been, or were, beautiful. The same
flower of innocence had flourished, or was still flourishing, on
their brow, that is seen on the brow of the culprit in your house."their brow, that is seen on the brow of the culprit in your house."
Villefort shrieked, clasped his hands, and looked at the doctor
with a supplicating air. But the latter went on without pity: —
"`Seek whom the crime will profit,' says an axiom of
jurisprudence."
"Doctor," cried Villefort, "alas, doctor, how often has man's
justice been deceived by those fatal words. I know not why, but I
feel that this crime" —
"You acknowledge, then, the existence of the crime?"
"Yes, I see too plainly that it does exist. But it seems that it
is intended to affect me personally. I fear an attack myself, after
all these disasters."
"Oh, man," murmured d'Avrigny, "the most selfish of all animals,
the most personal of all creatures, who believes the earth turns,
the sun shines, and death strikes for him alone, — an ant cursing
God from the top of a blade of grass! And have those who have lost
their lives lost nothing? — M. de Saint-Meran, Madame de
Saint-Meran, M. Noirtier" —
"How? M. Noirtier?"
"Yes; think you it was the poor servant's life was coveted? No,
no; like Shakespeare's `Polonius,' he died for another. It was
Noirtier the lemonade was intended for — it is Noirtier, logically
speaking, who drank it. The other drank it only by accident, and,
although Barrois is dead, it was Noirtier whose death was wished
for."
"But why did it not kill my father?"
"I told you one evening in the garden after Madame de
Saint-Meran's death — because his system is accustomed to that very
poison, and the dose was trifling to him, which would be fatal to
another; because no one knows, not even the assassin, that, for the
last twelve months, I have given M. Noirtier brucine for his
paralytic affection, while the assassin is not ignorant, for he has
proved that brucine is a violent poison."
"Oh, have pity — have pity!" murmured Villefort, wringing his
hands.
"Follow the culprit's steps; he first kills M. de Saint-Meran"
—
"O doctor!"
"I would swear to it; what I heard of his symptoms agrees too—
"O doctor!"
"I would swear to it; what I heard of his symptoms agrees too
well with what I have seen in the other cases." Villefort ceased to
contend; he only groaned. "He first kills M. de Saint-Meran,"
repeated the doctor, "then Madame de Saint-Meran, — a double
fortune to inherit." Villefort wiped the perspiration from his
forehead. "Listen attentively."
"Alas," stammered Villefort, "I do not lose a single word."
"M. Noirtier," resumed M. d'Avrigny in the same pitiless tone, —
"M. Noirtier had once made a will against you — against your family
— in favor of the poor, in fact; M. Noirtier is spared, because
nothing is expected from him. But he has no sooner destroyed his
first will and made a second, than, for fear he should make a
third, he is struck down. The will was made the day before
yesterday, I believe; you see there has been no time lost."
"Oh, mercy, M. d'Avrigny!"
"No mercy, sir! The physician has a sacred mission on earth; and
to fulfil it he begins at the source of life, and goes down to the
mysterious darkness of the tomb. When crime has been committed, and
God, doubtless in anger, turns away his face, it is for the
physician to bring the culprit to justice."
"Have mercy on my child, sir," murmured Villefort.
"You see it is yourself who have first named her — you, her
father."
"Have pity on Valentine! Listen — it is impossible! I would as
willingly accuse myself! Valentine, whose heart is pure as a
diamond or a lily."
"No pity, procureur; the crime is fragrant. Mademoiselle herself
packed all the medicines which were sent to M. de Saint-Meran; and
M. de Saint-Meran is dead. Mademoiselle de Villefort prepared all
the cooling draughts which Madame de Saint-Meran took, and Madame
de Saint-Meran is dead. Mademoiselle de Villefort took from the
hands of Barrois, who was sent out, the lemonade which M. Noirtier
had every morning, and he has escaped by a miracle. Mademoiselle de
Villefort is the culprit — she is the poisoner! To you, as the