"And this king's attorney was named Villefort?" asked Monte
Cristo carelessly.
"Yes, your excellency; he came from Marseilles, where he had
been deputy-procureur. His zeal had procured him advancement, and
he was said to be one of the first who had informed the government
of the departure from the Island of Elba."
"Then," said Monte Cristo "you went to him?"
"`Monsieur,' I said, `my brother was assassinated yesterday in
the streets of Nimes, I know not by whom, but it is your duty to
find out. You are the representative of justice here, and it is for
justice to avenge those she has been unable to protect.' — `Who was
your brother?' asked he. — `A lieutenant in the Corsican
battalion.' — `A soldier of the usurper, then?' — `A soldier of the
French army.' — `Well,' replied he, `he has smitten with the sword,
and he has perished by the sword.' — `You are mistaken, monsieur,'
I replied; `he has perished by the poniard.' — `What do you want me
to do?' asked the magistrate. — `I have already told you — avenge
him.' — `On whom?' — `On his murderers.' — `How should I know who
they are?' — `Order them to be sought for.' — `Why, your brother
has been involved in a quarrel, and killed in a duel. All these old
soldiers commit excesses which were tolerated in the time of the
emperor, but which are not suffered now, for the people here do not
like soldiers of such disorderly conduct.' — `Monsieur,' I replied,
`it is not for myself that I entreat your interference — I should
grieve for him or avenge him, but my poor brother had a wife, and
were anything to happen to me, the poor creature would perish from
want, for my brother's pay alone kept her. Pray, try and obtain a
small government pension for her.'
"`Every revolution has its catastrophes,' returned M. de
Villefort; `your brother has been the victim of this. It is a
misfortune, and government owes nothing to his family. If we are to
judge by all the vengeance that the followers of the usurper
exercised on the partisans of the king, when, in their turn, theyexercised on the partisans of the king, when, in their turn, they
were in power, your brother would be to-day, in all probability,
condemned to death. What has happened is quite natural, and in
conformity with the law of reprisals.' — `What,' cried I, `do you,
a magistrate, speak thus to me?' — `All these Corsicans are mad, on
my honor,' replied M. de Villefort; `they fancy that their
countryman is still emperor. You have mistaken the time, you should
have told me this two months ago, it is too late now. Go now, at
once, or I shall have you put out.'
"I looked at him an instant to see if there was anything to hope
from further entreaty. But he was a man of stone. I approached him,
and said in a low voice, `Well, since you know the Corsicans so
well, you know that they always keep their word. You think that it
was a good deed to kill my brother, who was a Bonapartist, because
you are a royalist. Well, I, who am a Bonapartist also, declare one
thing to you, which is, that I will kill you. From this moment I
declare the vendetta against you, so protect yourself as well as
you can, for the next time we meet your last hour has come.' And
before he had recovered from his surprise, I opened the door and
left the room."
"Well, well," said Monte Cristo, "such an innocent looking
person as you are to do those things, M. Bertuccio, and to a king's
attorney at that! But did he know what was meant by the terrible
word `vendetta'?"
"He knew so well, that from that moment he shut himself in his
house, and never went out unattended, seeking me high and low.
Fortunately, I was so well concealed that he could not find me.
Then he became alarmed, and dared not stay any longer at Nimes, so
he solicited a change of residence, and, as he was in reality very
influential, he was nominated to Versailles. But, as you know, a
Corsican who has sworn to avenge himself cares not for distance, so
his carriage, fast as it went, was never above half a day's journey
before me, who followed him on foot. The most important thing was,before me, who followed him on foot. The most important thing was,
not to kill him only — for I had an opportunity of doing so a
hundred times — but to kill him without being discovered — at
least, without being arrested. I no longer belonged to myself, for
I had my sister-in-law to protect and provide for. For three months
I watched M. de Villefort, for three months he took not a step
out-of-doors without my following him. At length I discovered that
he went mysteriously to Auteuil. I followed him thither, and I saw
him enter the house where we now are, only, instead of entering by
the great door that looks into the street, he came on horseback, or
in his carriage, left the one or the other at the little inn, and
entered by the gate you see there." Monte Cristo made a sign with
his head to show that he could discern in the darkness the door to
which Bertuccio alluded. "As I had nothing more to do at
Versailles, I went to Auteuil, and gained all the information I
could. If I wished to surprise him, it was evident this was the
spot to lie in wait for him. The house belonged, as the concierge
informed your excellency, to M. de Saint-Meran, Villefort's
father-in-law. M. de Saint-Meran lived at Marseilles, so that this
country house was useless to him, and it was reported to be let to
a young widow, known only by the name of `the baroness.'
"One evening, as I was looking over the wall, I saw a young and
handsome woman who was walking alone in that garden, which was not
overlooked by any windows, and I guessed that she was awaiting M.
de Villefort. When she was sufficiently near for me to distinguish
her features, I saw she was from eighteen to nineteen, tall and
very fair. As she had a loose muslin dress on and as nothing
concealed her figure, I saw she would ere long become a mother. A
few moments after, the little door was opened and a man entered.
The young woman hastened to meet him. They threw themselves into
each other's arms, embraced tenderly, and returned together to the