here."
"On what subject shall I converse with her?" said Albert, in a
low tone to Monte Cristo.
"Just what you please; you may speak of her country and of her
youthful reminiscences, or if you like it better you can talk of
Rome, Naples, or Florence."
"Oh," said Albert, "it is of no use to be in the company of a
Greek if one converses just in the same style as with a Parisian;
let me speak to her of the East."
"Do so then, for of all themes which you could choose that will
be the most agreeable to her taste." Albert turned towards Haidee.
"At what age did you leave Greece, signora?" asked he.
"I left it when I was but five years old," replied Haidee.
"And have you any recollection of your country?"
"When I shut my eyes and think, I seem to see it all again. The
mind can see as well as the body. The body forgets sometimes — but
the mind never forgets."
"And how far back into the past do your recollections
extend?"
"I could scarcely walk when my mother, who was called Vasiliki,
which means royal," said the young girl, tossing her head proudly,
"took me by the hand, and after putting in our purse all the money
we possessed, we went out, both covered with veils, to solicit alms
for the prisoners, saying, `He who giveth to the poor lendeth to
the Lord.' Then when our purse was full we returned to the palace,
and without saying a word to my father, we sent it to the convent,
where it was divided amongst the prisoners."
"And how old were you at that time?"
"I was three years old," said Haidee.
"Then you remember everything that went on about you from the
time when you were three years old?" said Albert.
"Everything."
"Count," said Albert, in a low tone to Monte Cristo, "do allow
the signora to tell me something of her history. You prohibited my
mentioning my father's name to her, but perhaps she will allude to
him of her own accord in the course of the recital, and you have no
idea how delighted I should be to hear our name pronounced by such
beautiful lips." Monte Cristo turned to Haidee, and with anbeautiful lips." Monte Cristo turned to Haidee, and with an
expression of countenance which commanded her to pay the most
implicit attention to his words, he said in Greek, — "Tell us the
fate of your father; but neither the name of the traitor nor the
treason." Haidee sighed deeply, and a shade of sadness clouded her
beautiful brow.
"What are you saying to her?" said Morcerf in an undertone.
"I again reminded her that you were a friend, and that she need
not conceal anything from you."
"Then," said Albert, "this pious pilgrimage in behalf of the
prisoners was your first remembrance; what is the next?"
"Oh, then I remember as if it were but yesterday sitting under
the shade of some sycamore-trees, on the borders of a lake, in the
waters of which the trembling foliage was reflected as in a mirror.
Under the oldest and thickest of these trees, reclining on
cushions, sat my father; my mother was at his feet, and I,
childlike, amused myself by playing with his long white beard which
descended to his girdle, or with the diamond-hilt of the scimitar
attached to his girdle. Then from time to time there came to him an
Albanian who said something to which I paid no attention, but which
he always answered in the same tone of voice, either `Kill,' or
`Pardon.'"
"It is very strange," said Albert, "to hear such words proceed
from the mouth of any one but an actress on the stage, and one
needs constantly to be saying to one's self, `This is no fiction,
it is all reality,' in order to believe it. And how does France
appear in your eyes, accustomed as they have been to gaze on such
enchanted scenes?"
"I think it is a fine country," said Haidee, "but I see France
as it really is, because I look on it with the eyes of a woman;
whereas my own country, which I can only judge of from the
impression produced on my childish mind, always seems enveloped in
a vague atmosphere, which is luminous or otherwise, according as my
remembrances of it are sad or joyous."
"So young," said Albert, forgetting at the moment the Count's"So young," said Albert, forgetting at the moment the Count's
command that he should ask no questions of the slave herself, "is
it possible that you can have known what suffering is except by
name?"
Haidee turned her eyes towards Monte Cristo, who, making at the
same time some imperceptible sign, murmured, — "Go on."
"Nothing is ever so firmly impressed on the mind as the memory
of our early childhood, and with the exception of the two scenes I
have just described to you, all my earliest reminiscences are
fraught with deepest sadness."
"Speak, speak, signora," said Albert, "I am listening with the
most intense delight and interest to all you say."
Haidee answered his remark with a melancholy smile. "You wish
me, then, to relate the history of my past sorrows?" said she.
"I beg you to do so," replied Albert.
"Well, I was but four years old when one night I was suddenly
awakened by my mother. We were in the palace of Yanina; she
snatched me from the cushions on which I was sleeping, and on
opening my eyes I saw hers filled with tears. She took me away
without speaking. When I saw her weeping I began to cry too. `Hush,
child!' said she. At other times in spite of maternal endearments
or threats, I had with a child's caprice been accustomed to indulge
my feelings of sorrow or anger by crying as much as I felt
inclined; but on this occasion there was an intonation of such
extreme terror in my mother's voice when she enjoined me to
silence, that I ceased crying as soon as her command was given. She
bore me rapidly away.
"I saw then that we were descending a large staircase; around us
were all my mother's servants carrying trunks, bags, ornaments,
jewels, purses of gold, with which they were hurrying away in the
greatest distraction.
"Behind the women came a guard of twenty men armed with long
guns and pistols, and dressed in the costume which the Greeks have
assumed since they have again become a nation. You may imagine
there was something startling and ominous," said Haidee, shaking