done to merit your being revealed to me, unless, indeed, heaven
took into consideration the fact that the victims of my sword were
infidels. But tell me what interest Madame de Villefort can have in
your remaining unmarried?"
"Did I not tell you just now that I was rich, Maximilian — too
rich? I possess nearly 50,000 livres in right of my mother; my
grandfather and my grandmother, the Marquis and Marquise de
Saint-Meran, will leave me as much, and M. Noirtier evidently
intends making me his heir. My brother Edward, who inherits nothing
from his mother, will, therefore, be poor in comparison with me.
Now, if I had taken the veil, all this fortune would have descended
to my father, and, in reversion, to his son."
"Ah, how strange it seems that such a young and beautiful woman
should be so avaricious."
"It is not for herself that she is so, but for her son, and what
you regard as a vice becomes almost a virtue when looked at in the
light of maternal love."
"But could you not compromise matters, and give up a portion of
your fortune to her son?"
"How could I make such a proposition, especially to a woman who
always professes to be so entirely disinterested?"
"Valentine, I have always regarded our love in the light of
something sacred; consequently, I have covered it with the veil of
respect, and hid it in the innermost recesses of my soul. No human
being, not even my sister, is aware of its existence. Valentine,
will you permit me to make a confidant of a friend and reveal to
him the love I bear you?"
Valentine started. "A friend, Maximilian; and who is this
friend? I tremble to give my permission."
"Listen, Valentine. Have you never experienced for any one that
sudden and irresistible sympathy which made you feel as if the
object of it had been your old and familiar friend, though, in
reality, it was the first time you had ever met? Nay, further, have
you never endeavored to recall the time, place, and circumstances
of your former intercourse, and failing in this attempt, haveof your former intercourse, and failing in this attempt, have
almost believed that your spirits must have held converse with each
other in some state of being anterior to the present, and that you
are only now occupied in a reminiscence of the past?"
"Yes."
"Well, that is precisely the feeling which I experienced when I
first saw that extraordinary man."
"Extraordinary, did you say?"
"Yes."
"You have known him for some time, then?"
"Scarcely longer than eight or ten days."
"And do you call a man your friend whom you have only known for
eight or ten days? Ah, Maximilian, I had hoped you set a higher
value on the title of friend."
"Your logic is most powerful, Valentine, but say what you will,
I can never renounce the sentiment which has instinctively taken
possession of my mind. I feel as if it were ordained that this man
should be associated with all the good which the future may have in
store for me, and sometimes it really seems as if his eye was able
to see what was to come, and his hand endowed with the power of
directing events according to his own will."
"He must be a prophet, then," said Valentine, smiling.
"Indeed," said Maximilian, "I have often been almost tempted to
attribute to him the gift of prophecy; at all events, he has a
wonderful power of foretelling any future good."
"Ah," said Valentine in a mournful tone, "do let me see this
man, Maximilian; he may tell me whether I shall ever be loved
sufficiently to make amends for all I have suffered."
"My poor girl, you know him already."
"I know him?"
"Yes; it was he who saved the life of your step-mother and her
son."
"The Count of Monte Cristo?"
"The same."
"Ah," cried Valentine, "he is too much the friend of Madame de
Villefort ever to be mine."
"The friend of Madame de Villefort! It cannot be; surely,
Valentine, you are mistaken?"
"No, indeed, I am not; for I assure you, his power over our
household is almost unlimited. Courted by my step-mother, who
regards him as the epitome of human wisdom; admired by my father,regards him as the epitome of human wisdom; admired by my father,
who says he has never before heard such sublime ideas so eloquently
expressed; idolized by Edward, who, notwithstanding his fear of the
count's large black eyes, runs to meet him the moment he arrives,
and opens his hand, in which he is sure to find some delightful
present, — M. de Monte Cristo appears to exert a mysterious and
almost uncontrollable influence over all the members of our
family."
"If such be the case, my dear Valentine, you must yourself have
felt, or at all events will soon feel, the effects of his presence.
He meets Albert de Morcerf in Italy — it is to rescue him from the
hands of the banditti; he introduces himself to Madame Danglars —
it is that he may give her a royal present; your step-mother and
her son pass before his door — it is that his Nubian may save them
from destruction. This man evidently possesses the power of
influencing events, both as regards men and things. I never saw
more simple tastes united to greater magnificence. His smile is so
sweet when he addresses me, that I forget it ever can be bitter to
others. Ah, Valentine, tell me, if he ever looked on you with one
of those sweet smiles? if so, depend on it, you will be happy."
"Me?" said the young girl, "he never even glances at me; on the
contrary, if I accidentally cross his path, he appears rather to
avoid me. Ah, he is not generous, neither does he possess that
supernatural penetration which you attribute to him, for if he did,
he would have perceived that I was unhappy; and if he had been
generous, seeing me sad and solitary, he would have used his
influence to my advantage, and since, as you say, he resembles the
sun, he would have warmed my heart with one of his life-giving
rays. You say he loves you, Maximilian; how do you know that he
does? All would pay deference to an officer like you, with a fierce
mustache and a long sabre, but they think they may crush a poor
weeping girl with impunity."
"Ah, Valentine, I assure you you are mistaken."