scaffold. Do you understand?" asked Villefort.
"Oh, mercy, mercy, monsieur!"
"What I require is, that justice be done. I am on the earth to
punish, madame," he added, with a flaming glance; "any other woman,
were it the queen herself, I would send to the executioner; but to
you I shall be merciful. To you I will say, `Have you not, madame,
put aside some of the surest, deadliest, most speedy poison?'"
"Oh, pardon me, sir; let me live!"
"She is cowardly," said Villefort.
"Reflect that I am your wife!"
"You are a poisoner."
"In the name of heaven!"
"No!"
"In the name of the love you once bore me!"
"No, no!"
"In the name of our child! Ah, for the sake of our child, let me
live!"
"No, no, no, I tell you; one day, if I allow you to live, you
will perhaps kill him, as you have the others!"
"I? — I kill my boy?" cried the distracted mother, rushing
toward Villefort; "I kill my son? Ha, ha, ha!" and a frightful,
demoniac laugh finished the sentence, which was lost in a hoarse
rattle. Madame de Villefort fell at her husband's feet. He
approached her. "Think of it, madame," he said; "if, on my return,
justice his not been satisfied, I will denounce you with my own
mouth, and arrest you with my own hands!" She listened, panting,
overwhelmed, crushed; her eye alone lived, and glared horribly. "Do
you understand me?" he said. "I am going down there to pronounce
the sentence of death against a murderer. If I find you alive on my
return, you shall sleep to-night in the conciergerie." Madame de
Villefort sighed; her nerves gave way, and she sunk on the carpet.
The king's attorney seemed to experience a sensation of pity; he
looked upon her less severely, and, bowing to her, said slowly,
"Farewell, madame, farewell!" That farewell struck Madame de
Villefort like the executioner's knife. She fainted. The procureur
went out, after having double-locked the door.The judges took their places in the midst of the most profound
silence; the jury took their seats; M. de Villefort, the object of
unusual attention, and we had almost said of general admiration,
sat in the arm-chair and cast a tranquil glance around him. Every
one looked with astonishment on that grave and severe face, whose
calm expression personal griefs had been unable to disturb, and the
aspect of a man who was a stranger to all human emotions excited
something very like terror.
"Gendarmes," said the president, "lead in the accused."
At these words the public attention became more intense, and all
eyes were turned towards the door through which Benedetto was to
enter. The door soon opened and the accused appeared. The same
impression was experienced by all present, and no one was deceived
by the expression of his countenance. His features bore no sign of
that deep emotion which stops the beating of the heart and blanches
the cheek. His hands, gracefully placed, one upon his hat, the
other in the opening of his white waistcoat, were not at all
tremulous; his eye was calm and even brilliant. Scarcely had he
entered the hall when he glanced at the whole body of magistrates
and assistants; his eye rested longer on the president, and still
more so on the king's attorney. By the side of Andrea was stationed
the lawyer who was to conduct his defence, and who had been
appointed by the court, for Andrea disdained to pay any attention
to those details, to which he appeared to attach no importance. The
lawyer was a young man with light hair whose face expressed a
hundred times more emotion than that which characterized the
prisoner.
The president called for the indictment, revised as we know, by
the clever and implacable pen of Villefort. During the reading of
this, which was long, the public attention was continually drawn
towards Andrea, who bore the inspection with Spartan unconcern.
Villefort had never been so concise and eloquent. The crime was
depicted in the most vivid colors; the former life of the prisoner,depicted in the most vivid colors; the former life of the prisoner,
his transformation, a review of his life from the earliest period,
were set forth with all the talent that a knowledge of human life
could furnish to a mind like that of the procureur. Benedetto was
thus forever condemned in public opinion before the sentence of the
law could be pronounced. Andrea paid no attention to the successive
charges which were brought against him. M. de Villefort, who
examined him attentively, and who no doubt practiced upon him all
the psychological studies he was accustomed to use, in vain
endeavored to make him lower his eyes, notwithstanding the depth
and profundity of his gaze. At length the reading of the indictment
was ended.
"Accused," said the president, "your name and surname?" Andrea
arose. "Excuse me, Mr. President," he said, in a clear voice, "but
I see you are going to adopt a course of questions through which I
cannot follow you. I have an idea, which I will explain by and by,
of making an exception to the usual form of accusation. Allow me,
then, if you please, to answer in different order, or I will not do
so at all." The astonished president looked at the jury, who in
turn looked at Villefort. The whole assembly manifested great
surprise, but Andrea appeared quite unmoved. "Your age?" said the
president; "will you answer that question?"
"I will answer that question, as well as the rest, Mr.
President, but in its turn."
"Your age?" repeated the president.
"I am twenty-one years old, or rather I shall be in a few days,
as I was born the night of the 27th of September, 1817." M. de
Villefort, who was busy taking down some notes, raised his head at
the mention of this date. "Where were you born?" continued the
president.
"At Auteuil, near Paris." M. de Villefort a second time raised
his head, looked at Benedetto as if he had been gazing at the head
of Medusa, and became livid. As for Benedetto, he gracefully wiped
his lips with a fine cambric pocket-handkerchief. "Your
profession?"