example; he is well-behaved!"
Fernand, probably excited beyond bearing, pricked by Danglars,
as the bull is by the bandilleros, was about to rush out; for he
had risen from his seat, and seemed to be collecting himself to
dash headlong upon his rival, when Mercedes, smiling and graceful,
lifted up her lovely head, and looked at them with her clear and
bright eyes. At this Fernand recollected her threat of dying if
Edmond died, and dropped again heavily on his seat. Danglars looked
at the two men, one after the other, the one brutalized by liquor,
the other overwhelmed with love.
"I shall get nothing from these fools," he muttered; "and I am
very much afraid of being here between a drunkard and a coward.
Here's an envious fellow making himself boozy on wine when he ought
to be nursing his wrath, and here is a fool who sees the woman he
loves stolen from under his nose and takes on like a big baby. Yet
this Catalan has eyes that glisten like those of the vengeful
Spaniards, Sicilians, and Calabrians, and the other has fists big
enough to crush an ox at one blow. Unquestionably, Edmond's star is
in the ascendant, and he will marry the splendid girl — he will be
captain, too, and laugh at us all, unless" — a sinister smile
passed over Danglars' lips — "unless I take a hand in the affair,"
he added.
"Hallo!" continued Caderousse, half-rising, and with his fist on
the table, "hallo, Edmond! do you not see your friends, or are you
too proud to speak to them?"
"No, my dear fellow!" replied Dantes, "I am not proud, but I am
happy, and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride."
"Ah, very well, that's an explanation!" said Caderousse. "How do
you do, Madame Dantes?"
Mercedes courtesied gravely, and said — "That is not my name,
and in my country it bodes ill fortune, they say, to call a young
girl by the name of her betrothed before he becomes her husband. So
call me Mercedes, if you please."
"We must excuse our worthy neighbor, Caderousse," said Dantes,
"he is so easily mistaken.""We must excuse our worthy neighbor, Caderousse," said Dantes,
"he is so easily mistaken."
"So, then, the wedding is to take place immediately, M. Dantes,"
said Danglars, bowing to the young couple.
"As soon as possible, M. Danglars; to-day all preliminaries will
be arranged at my father's, and to-morrow, or next day at latest,
the wedding festival here at La Reserve. My friends will be there,
I hope; that is to say, you are invited, M. Danglars, and you,
Caderousse."
"And Fernand," said Caderousse with a chuckle; "Fernand, too, is
invited!"
"My wife's brother is my brother," said Edmond; "and we,
Mercedes and I, should be very sorry if he were absent at such a
time."
Fernand opened his mouth to reply, but his voice died on his
lips, and he could not utter a word.
"To-day the preliminaries, to-morrow or next day the ceremony!
You are in a hurry, captain!"
"Danglars," said Edmond, smiling, "I will say to you as Mercedes
said just now to Caderousse, `Do not give me a title which does not
belong to me'; that may bring me bad luck."
"Your pardon," replied Danglars, "I merely said you seemed in a
hurry, and we have lots of time; the Pharaon cannot be under weigh
again in less than three months."
"We are always in a hurry to be happy, M. Danglars; for when we
have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in
good fortune. But it is not selfishness alone that makes me thus in
haste; I must go to Paris."
"Ah, really? — to Paris! and will it be the first time you have
ever been there, Dantes?"
"Yes."
"Have you business there?"
"Not of my own; the last commission of poor Captain Leclere; you
know to what I allude, Danglars — it is sacred. Besides, I shall
only take the time to go and return."
"Yes, yes, I understand," said Danglars, and then in a low tone,
he added, "To Paris, no doubt to deliver the letter which the grand
marshal gave him. Ah, this letter gives me an idea — a capital
idea! Ah; Dantes, my friend, you are not yet registered number oneidea! Ah; Dantes, my friend, you are not yet registered number one
on board the good ship Pharaon;" then turning towards Edmond, who
was walking away, "A pleasant journey," he cried.
"Thank you," said Edmond with a friendly nod, and the two lovers
continued on their way, as calm and joyous as if they were the very
elect of heaven.In one of the aristocratic mansions built by Puget in the Rue du
Grand Cours opposite the Medusa fountain, a second marriage feast
was being celebrated, almost at the same hour with the nuptial
repast given by Dantes. In this case, however, although the
occasion of the entertainment was similar, the company was
strikingly dissimilar. Instead of a rude mixture of sailors,
soldiers, and those belonging to the humblest grade of life, the
present assembly was composed of the very flower of Marseilles
society, — magistrates who had resigned their office during the
usurper's reign; officers who had deserted from the imperial army
and joined forces with Conde; and younger members of families,
brought up to hate and execrate the man whom five years of exile
would convert into a martyr, and fifteen of restoration elevate to
the rank of a god.
The guests were still at table, and the heated and energetic
conversation that prevailed betrayed the violent and vindictive
passions that then agitated each dweller of the South, where
unhappily, for five centuries religious strife had long given
increased bitterness to the violence of party feeling.
The emperor, now king of the petty Island of Elba, after having
held sovereign sway over one-half of the world, counting as his
subjects a small population of five or six thousand souls, — after
having been accustomed to hear the "Vive Napoleons" of a hundred
and twenty millions of human beings, uttered in ten different
languages, — was looked upon here as a ruined man, separated
forever from any fresh connection with France or claim to her
throne.
The magistrates freely discussed their political views; the
military part of the company talked unreservedly of Moscow and
Leipsic, while the women commented on the divorce of Josephine. It
was not over the downfall of the man, but over the defeat of the
Napoleonic idea, that they rejoiced, and in this they foresaw for
themselves the bright and cheering prospect of a revivified
political existence.