wide-open eyes expressing her alarm.
"Neither of them there!" she again said, as though striving to
impress herself with the meaning of the words which escaped
her.
"No," said Villefort, burying his face in his hands, "no, a
hundred times no!"
"Then you did not bury the poor child there, sir? Why did you
deceive me? Where did you place it? tell me — where?"
"There! But listen to me — listen — and you will pity me who has
for twenty years alone borne the heavy burden of grief I am about
to reveal, without casting the least portion upon you."
"Oh, you frighten me! But speak; I will listen."
"You recollect that sad night, when you were half-expiring on
that bed in the red damask room, while I, scarcely less agitated
than you, awaited your delivery. The child was born, was given to
me — motionless, breathless, voiceless; we thought it dead." Madame
Danglars moved rapidly, as though she would spring from her chair,
but Villefort stopped, and clasped his hands as if to implore her
attention. "We thought it dead," he repeated; "I placed it in the
chest, which was to take the place of a coffin; I descended to the
garden, I dug a hole, and then flung it down in haste. Scarcely had
I covered it with earth, when the arm of the Corsican was stretched
towards me; I saw a shadow rise, and, at the same time, a flash of
light. I felt pain; I wished to cry out, but an icy shiver ran
through my veins and stifled my voice; I fell lifeless, and fancied
myself killed. Never shall I forget your sublime courage, when,
having returned to consciousness, I dragged myself to the foot of
the stairs, and you, almost dying yourself, came to meet me. We
were obliged to keep silent upon the dreadful catastrophe. You had
the fortitude to regain the house, assisted by your nurse. A duel
was the pretext for my wound. Though we scarcely expected it, our
secret remained in our own keeping alone. I was taken to
Versailles; for three months I struggled with death; at last, as I
seemed to cling to life, I was ordered to the South. Four menseemed to cling to life, I was ordered to the South. Four men
carried me from Paris to Chalons, walking six leagues a day; Madame
de Villefort followed the litter in her carriage. At Chalons I was
put upon the Saone, thence I passed on to the Rhone, whence I
descended, merely with the current, to Arles; at Arles I was again
placed on my litter, and continued my journey to Marseilles. My
recovery lasted six months. I never heard you mentioned, and I did
not dare inquire for you. When I returned to Paris, I learned that
you, the widow of M. de Nargonne, had married M. Danglars.
"What was the subject of my thoughts from the time consciousness
returned to me? Always the same — always the child's corpse, coming
every night in my dreams, rising from the earth, and hovering over
the grave with menacing look and gesture. I inquired immediately on
my return to Paris; the house had not been inhabited since we left
it, but it had just been let for nine years. I found the tenant. I
pretended that I disliked the idea that a house belonging to my
wife's father and mother should pass into the hands of strangers. I
offered to pay them for cancelling the lease; they demanded 6,000
francs. I would have given 10,000 — I would have given 20,000. I
had the money with me; I made the tenant sign the deed of
resilition, and when I had obtained what I so much wanted, I
galloped to Auteuil.
"No one had entered the house since I had left it. It was five
o'clock in the afternoon; I ascended into the red room, and waited
for night. There all the thoughts which had disturbed me during my
year of constant agony came back with double force. The Corsican,
who had declared the vendetta against me, who had followed me from
Nimes to Paris, who had hid himself in the garden, who had struck
me, had seen me dig the grave, had seen me inter the child, — he
might become acquainted with your person, — nay, he might even then
have known it. Would he not one day make you pay for keeping this
terrible secret? Would it not be a sweet revenge for him when heterrible secret? Would it not be a sweet revenge for him when he
found that I had not died from the blow of his dagger? It was
therefore necessary, before everything else, and at all risks, that
I should cause all traces of the past to disappear — that I should
destroy every material vestige; too much reality would always
remain in my recollection. It was for this I had annulled the lease
— it was for this I had come — it was for this I was waiting. Night
arrived; I allowed it to become quite dark. I was without a light
in that room; when the wind shook all the doors, behind which I
continually expected to see some spy concealed, I trembled. I
seemed everywhere to hear your moans behind me in the bed, and I
dared not turn around. My heart beat so violently that I feared my
wound would open. At length, one by one, all the noises in the
neighborhood ceased. I understood that I had nothing to fear, that
I should neither be seen nor heard, so I decided upon descending to
the garden.
"Listen, Hermine; I consider myself as brave as most men, but
when I drew from my breast the little key of the staircase, which I
had found in my coat — that little key we both used to cherish so
much, which you wished to have fastened to a golden ring — when I
opened the door, and saw the pale moon shedding a long stream of
white light on the spiral staircase like a spectre, I leaned
against the wall, and nearly shrieked. I seemed to be going mad. At
last I mastered my agitation. I descended the staircase step by
step; the only thing I could not conquer was a strange trembling in
my knees. I grasped the railings; if I had relaxed my hold for a
moment, I should have fallen. I reached the lower door. Outside
this door a spade was placed against the wall; I took it, and
advanced towards the thicket. I had provided myself with a dark
lantern. In the middle of the lawn I stopped to light it, then I
continued my path.
"It was the end of November, all the verdure of the garden had