Count of Monte Cristo (abridged) (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)

by Alexandre Dumas

  “No, I do not recollect his name,” she said, “but it may come to my mind later on.”

  Albert was about to mention his father’s name when Monte Cristo quietly held up his finger enjoining silence, and, remembering his oath, the young man obeyed.

  “It was towards this kiosk that we were making our way. From the outside the kiosk appeared to consist of nothing more than a ground floor ornamented with arabesques with a terrace leading down to the water, and another story overlooking the lake. Under the ground floor, however, was a vast subterranean cave extending the whole length of the island, whither my mother and myself together with our womenfolk were taken, and where sixty thousand bags and two hundred casks were piled up in a heap. The bags contained twenty-five millions in gold, and the casks were filled with thirty thousand pounds of powder.

  “Near these casks stood Selim, my father’s favourite slave, whom I mentioned just now. Night and day he stood on guard, holding a lance at the tip of which was a lighted match. His orders were that directly my father gave him the signal, he was to blow up everything, kiosk, guards, women, gold, and the Pasha himself. I still see before me the pale-faced, black-eyed young soldier, and when the angel of Death comes to fetch me I am sure I shall recognize Selim.

  “I cannot tell you how long we remained thus, for at that period I was ignorant of the meaning of time. Sometimes, though rarely, my father would summon my mother and me to the terrace of the palace. Those were hours of real pleasure for me, for in the cave I heard nothing but the wailing of the slaves, and saw nothing but Selim’s fiery lance. Seated before a large aperture my father would try to pierce the black horizon; he examined every tiny speck that appeared in the lake, whilst my mother reclined at his side with her head upon his shoulder and I played at his feet.

  “One morning my father sent for us; we found him quite calm but paler than usual.

  “‘Have courage, Vasiliki,’ he said to my mother. ‘Today my lord’s firmanbx arrives, and my fate will be decided. If I am pardoned, we shall return to Janina in triumph, but if the news is bad, we shall flee to-night.’

  “‘But what if they do not let us flee?’

  “‘Set your mind at rest on that score,’ replied Ali with a smile. ‘Selim and his fiery lance will settle them. They want my death, but they will not want to die with me.’

  “My mother’s sighs were her only answer to this poor consolation. She prepared some iced water which he drank incessantly, for since his retreat to the kiosk he had been the victim of a burning fever; then she anointed his beard and lighted his chibouque. Sometimes he would sit for hours together pulling at his chibouque abstractedly, and watching the smoke ascend and dwindle into nothingness.

  “All of a sudden, he started up abruptly. Without taking his eyes from the object which was attracting his attention, he asked for his telescope, and my mother, whiter than the stucco against which she was leaning, gave it to him. I saw my father’s hands trembling.

  “‘A ship . . . ! two . . . ! three . . . ! four!’ he murmured.

  “With that he rose, and as I sit here I can still see him priming his pistols.

  “‘Vasiliki,’ he said to my mother, visibly trembling, ‘the time has now come when our fate will be decided, for in half an hour we shall learn the Sublime Sultan’s answer. Go to the cave with Haydee.’

  “‘I will not leave you,’ said Vasiliki. ‘If you die, my master, I will die with you.’

  “‘Go and stay with Selim!’ cried my father.

  “‘Farewell, my lord!’ murmured my mother, obedient to the end and bowed down by the near approach of death.

  “‘Take Vasiliki away,’ he said to one of the Palikars.

  “But I, whom they had forgotten, ran up to him and held out my arms to him. He saw me, and, bending down, pressed his lips to my forehead.

  “All this time twenty Palikars, hidden by the carved woodwork, were seated at my father’s feet watching with bloodshot eyes the arrival of the boats. Their long guns, inlaid with mother-of-pearl and silver, were ready to hand and a large number of cartridges were strewn about the floor. My father looked at his watch and began pacing up and down with a look of anguish on his face. This was the scene which impressed itself on my mind when I left my father after he had given me that last kiss.

  “My mother and I went down to the cave. Selim was still at his post and gave us a sad smile. We fetched some cushions from the other side of the cave and seated ourselves beside him. Devoted hearts seek one another in time of danger, and, child though I was, I instinctively sensed that some great danger was hanging over our heads.”

  These sad reminiscences appeared for a single instant to have deprived Haydee of the power of speech. Her head fell into her hands like a flower bowed down by the force of the storm, and her eyes gazed into vacancy as though she were conjuring up before her mind the verdant summit of Pindus and the blue waters of the Lake of Janina, which reflected like a magic mirror the grim picture she was sketching.

  Monte Cristo looked at her with an indefinable expression of interest and pity.

  “Continue, my child,” he said to her in Romaic.

  Haydee raised her head as though the sonorous words uttered by Monte Cristo had awakened her from a dream, and she resumed her narrative.

  “It was four o’clock in the afternoon, but whereas the day was brilliant and bright outside, we in the cave were plunged in darkness. One single light shone in our cave like a solitary star twinkling in a dark and cloud-covered sky; it was Selim’s match.

  “From time to time Selim repeated the sacred words: ‘Al- lah is great!’ My mother was a Christian, and she prayed incessantly, but she still had a ray of hope. When she was leaving the terrace she had thought she recognized the Frenchman who had been sent to Constantinople and in whom my father placed implicit confidence, for he well knew that the soldiers of the French King are generally noble and generous. She advanced towards the staircase and listened. ‘They are drawing near,’ she said. ‘If only they bring life and peace to us!’

  “‘What do you fear, Vasiliki?’ replied Selim in a voice so gentle and at the same time so proud. ‘If they do not bring peace, we will give them death.’ And he revived the flame of his lance.

  “But I, who was only an unsophisticated child, was frightened by this courage which appeared to me both ferocious and insensate, and I was filled with alarm by the atmosphere of death I seemed to feel all round me and to see in Selim’s flame. My mother must have had the same impression for I felt her shudder.

  “‘Oh, Mama, Mama!’ I cried, ‘are we going to die?’

  “‘May God preserve you, my child, from ever desiring the death you fear to-day!’ said my mother. Then in a low voice to Selim: ‘What are my master’s orders?’

  “‘If he sends me his poniard,by it signifies that the Sultan has refused his pardon, and I am to apply the match; if he sends me his ring, it means that the Sultan pardons him and I am to hand over the powder.’

  “‘Friend,’ said my mother, ‘when the master’s order arrives and if it be the poniard he sends, we will both bare our throats to you and do you kill us with the same poniard instead of dispatching us by that terrible death we both fear.’

  “‘I will, Vasiliki,’ was Selim’s calm reply.

  “All of a sudden we heard loud shouts. We listened. They were shouts of joy. The name of the French officer who had been sent to Constantinople burst from the throats of the Palikars on all sides. It was evident he had brought the Sultan’s answer and that the answer was a favourable one.”

  “Do you not recollect the name?” said Morcerf, ready to aid the narrator’s memory.

  Monte Cristo made a sign to her.

  “I do not remember it,” responded Haydee. “The noise increased; there was the sound of approaching footsteps; they were descending the steps to the cave. Selim made ready his lance. Soon a figure appeared in the grey twilight created by the rays of day which penetrated to the entrance of the cave.


  “‘Who goes there?’ cried Selim. ‘Whosoever it may be, advance no farther!’

  “‘Glory be to the Sultan!’ said the figure. ‘He has granted full pardon to the Vizier Ali and not only grants him his life, but restores to him his fortune and all his possessions.’

  “My mother uttered a cry of joy and pressed me to her heart.

  “‘Stop!’ cried Selim on perceiving that she was about to rush out of the cave. ‘You know I must have the ring.’

  “‘You are right,’ replied my mother, and she fell on her knees holding me up towards Heaven as though, while praying to God for me, she wished to lift me up towards Him!”

  For the second time Haydee paused, overcome by an emotion which made the perspiration break out in drops upon her forehead and her words choke in her parched throat. Monte Cristo poured a little iced water into a glass and handed it to her, saying with a tenderness in which was mingled a suspicion of command: “Take courage, my child!”

  Haydee wiped her eyes and forehead and continued:

  “By this time our eyes had become accustomed to the darkness and we recognized the Pasha’s envoy: he was a friend. Selim too recognized him, but the brave young man had one duty to fulfil—that was, to obey.

  “‘In whose name do you come?’ said he.

  “‘I come in the name of our master, Ali Tebelin.’

  “‘If you come in the name of Ali, do you know what you have to hand me?’

  “‘Yes,’ said the messenger. ‘I bring the ring.’

  “So saying he held his hand above his head, but from where we were it was too dark and he too far away for Selim to distinguish and recognize the object he held up.

  “‘I see not what you have there,’ said Selim.

  “‘Come nearer, or if you so wish, I will come nearer to you,’ replied the messenger.

  “‘Neither the one nor the other,’ replied the young soldier. ‘On the spot where you now stand, so that the rays of this light may fall on it, set down the object you wish to show me and retire till I have seen it.’

  “‘It shall be done,’ answered the messenger. Placing the symbol on the spot indicated, he withdrew.

  “Our hearts beat fast, for the object was actually a ring, but was it my father’s ring? Still holding in his hand the lighted match, Selim went to the entrance, bent down and picked up the token. ‘The master’s ring!’ he exclaimed, kissing it. ‘All is well!’ Throwing the match on the ground, he trampled on it till it was extinguished.

  “The messenger uttered a cry of joy and clapped his hands. At this signal, four of the Seraskier Kourschid’s soldiers rushed in, and Selim fell pierced by the dagger of each of the men. Intoxicated by their crime, though still pale with fear, they then rushed into the cave and made for the bags of gold.

  “By this time my mother had seized me in her arms and running nimbly along windings known only to ourselves, reached some secret stairs, where reigned a frightful tumult and confusion. The lower halls were filled with the armed ruf- fians of Kourschid, our enemies. My mother glued her eyes to a chink in the boards; there happened to be an aperture in front of me, and I looked through it.

  “‘What do you want?’ we heard my father saying to some men who held in their hands a piece of paper inscribed with letters of gold.

  “‘We wish to communicate to you the will of His Highness. Do you see this firman?’

  “‘I do,’ was my father’s reply.

  “‘Well, read it. It demands your head.’

  “My father burst into laughter, more terrible to hear than the wildest threats, and he had not ceased when two pistol shots rang out and the two men were dead.

  “The Palikars, who were lying face downward all round my father, rose and began firing. The room became filled with noise, flames, and smoke. At the same time firing started on the other side of the hall, and the boards all around us were soon riddled with shot.

  “Oh, how handsome, how noble was the Vizier Ali Tebelin, my father, as he stood there in the midst of the shot, his scimitar bz in his hand, his face black with powder! How his enemies fled before him!

  “‘Selim! Selim!’ cried he. ‘Guardian of the fire, do your duty!’

  “‘Selim is dead,’ replied a voice which seemed to come from the depths of the kiosk, ‘and you, my lord Ali, are lost!’ At the same moment a dull report was heard, and the flooring was shattered to atoms all around my father.

  “Twenty shots were fired from underneath through the gap thus created, and flames rushed up as from the crater of a volcano and, gaining the hangings, quickly devoured them.

  “In the midst of this frightful tumult two reports more distinct than the others, and two cries more heartrending than all the rest, petrified me with terror. These two shots had mortally wounded my father, and it was he who had uttered the two cries. Nevertheless he would not fall but stood clinging to a window. My mother shook the door in her efforts to force it open to go and die beside him, but the door was locked from the inside. All round him the Palikars were writhing in agony; two or three who were only slightly or not at all wounded leaped through the windows. The floor gave way entirely. My father fell on one knee; instantly twenty hands were stretched out, and twenty blows were dealt simultaneously at one man. My father disappeared in a blaze of fire stirred by these roaring demons as though hell had opened under his feet. I felt myself roll to the ground: my mother had fainted.”

  Haydee’s arms fell to her side, and, uttering a groan, she looked at the Count as though to ask him whether he was satisfied with her obedience. Monte Cristo went up to her, and taking her hand said to her in Romaic: “Calm yourself, dear child, and console yourself in the thought that there is a God who punishes traitors.”

  “It is a frightful story, Count,” said Albert, alarmed at Haydee’s paleness, “and I reproach myself with having been so cruelly indiscreet.”

  “It is nothing,” replied Monte Cristo. Then, placing his hand on the maiden’s shoulder, he continued: “Haydee is a courageous girl and she sometimes finds solace in recounting her troubles.”

  “Because my sufferings remind me of your kindness, my lord,” was the girl’s eager response.

  Albert looked at her with curiosity, for she had not yet told him what he was most anxious to know, namely, how she had become the Count’s slave. She saw this desire expressed both in the Count’s and in Albert’s eyes and continued:

  “When my mother recovered consciousness we were before the Seraskier. ‘Kill me,’ she said to him, ‘but preserve the honour of Ali’s widow.’

  “‘It is not to me that you have to address yourself,’ Kourschid said.

  “‘Then to whom?’

  “‘To your new master.’

  “‘Who is my new master?’

  “‘Here he is,’ said Kourschid, pointing to one of those who had most contributed to my father’s death.”

  “Then you became that man’s property?” asked Albert.

  “No,” responded Haydee. “He did not dare keep us; he sold us to some slave merchants who were going to Constantinople. We crossed over Greece and arrived at the imperial gates in a dying condition surrounded by a curious crowd, who made way for us to pass. My mother followed the direction of their eyes and with a cry suddenly fell to the ground, pointing to a head on a spike of the gate. Above this head were written the words:

  “THIS IS THE HEAD OF ALI TEBELIN, PASHA OF JANINA.”

  “Weeping, I tried to raise my mother. She was dead!

  “I was taken to the bazaar; a rich American bought me, had me educated, and, when I was thirteen years of age, he sold me to the Sultan Mahommed.”

  “From whom I bought her, as I told you, Albert, for an emerald similar to the one in which I keep my hashish pills,” said the Count.

  “You are good, you are great, my lord,” said Haydee, kissing Monte Cristo’s hand. “I am very happy to belong to you.”

  Albert was quite bewildered by all he had heard.

  “Fini
sh your coffee,” said the Count. “The story is ended.”5

  Chapter LI

  THE REPORT FROM JANINA

  Franz left Noirtier’s room so distraught that even Valentine felt pity for him. Villefort only muttered some incoherent words and took refuge in his study. Two hours later he received the following letter:

  “After all that has been disclosed this morning, Monsieur Noirtier de Villefort will appreciate the impossibility of an alliance between his family and that of Monsieur Franz d’Épinay. Monsieur Franz d’Épinay is sorry to think that Monsieur de Villefort, who appeared to be cognizant of the incidents related, should not have anticipated him in the expression of this view.”

  This outspoken letter from a young man who had always shown so much respect toward him was a deadly blow to the pride of a man like Villefort. He had not been in his study long when his wife entered. The fact that Franz had been called away by M. Noirtier at such a moment had caused so much amazement that Mme de Villefort’s position, left alone with the lawyer and the witnesses, had become most embarrassing. At length she determined to stay no longer, and she too took her leave, saying she was going to make inquiries as to the cause of the interruption.

  M. de Villefort merely told her that as the result of an explanation between M. Noirtier, M. d’Épinay, and himself, Valentine’s engagement was broken off. This was a very awkward answer to have to give to those awaiting her return, so she contented herself with saying that M. Noirtier had been taken with a slight fit of apoplexy at the beginning of their discussion, in consequence of which the signing of the contract would be postponed for a few days. This news, false though it was, came so singularly in the train of the two other similar misfortunes, that her auditors looked at each other in amazement and withdrew without saying a word.

  In the meantime Valentine, happy though at the same time terrified at all she had heard, embraced the feeble old man in loving gratitude for having broken a tie she had considered indissoluble, and asked his permission to go to her room for a while to recover her composure. Instead of going to her room, however, Valentine went into the garden. Maximilian was waiting in his customary place ready for any emergency, and convinced that Valentine would run to him the first moment she was free to do so.