World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 125
On the day we mentioned above that Mrs. Tangla went to the prosecutor's office to discuss matters, at about the same time, an open four-wheeled carriage drove into Elder Road, passed through the gate of the mansion No. 27, and stopped in the courtyard.After a while, the door opened, and Mrs. Moserf got off the carriage holding her son's arm.As soon as Albert sent his mother back to the room, he hurriedly ordered the servants to prepare him a bath and a car.As soon as his valet helped him dress up and pack up, Albert took the carriage to the residence of the Count of Monte Cristo on the Champs Elysees.

The count came to meet Albert with his invariable smile.Strange to say, for the count, no one seemed to take a step forward, into his heart or into his spiritual world.Some people have also tried—let's put it this way—to get over this hurdle in the hope of becoming friends with the Earl, but all they encountered in the end was a ruthless wall.Although the count was smiling and friendly, Mosef, who was running towards him with open arms, lowered his arms again when he saw this look, and finally only dared to stretch out one hand to him.The count, as usual, did not shake Mosef's hand, but only touched the hand that was extended.

"Oh, here I come!" said Albert, "my dear count."

"Welcome back."

"I just got back an hour ago."

"Come back from Diep?"

"Back from Le Trepo."

"Ah, yes."

"You will be the first person I visit when I come back."

"Thank you," said Monte Cristo, very flatly.

"Well, is there any news?"

"News! You ask a foreigner like me for news!"

"I asked on purpose. To ask for your news is to ask if you have done anything for me."

"Have you asked me to do anything?" said Monte Cristo, with an air of uneasiness.

"Come, come," said Albert, "don't pretend to be confused. They say that friends who are apart from each other are inseparable. Well, I felt the electric waves hit me in Le Trépoux, and you didn't do anything for me. Things, at least they missed me."

"It is possible," said Monte Cristo. "I think you are, but the effect of the current I conduct is, to be honest, independent of my will."

"That's right! Please tell me if there's anything wrong."

"It's very simple to say, Mr. Tangla came to my place for dinner."

"I know that. It was to avoid him that my mother and I left."

"But he was also having dinner with Mr. Andra Cavalcanti."

"Is that your Italian prince?"

"Let's not exaggerate, Mr. Andra just calls himself a Viscount."

"You said he called himself."

"I mean he called himself."

"So he's not a Viscount?"

"Oh, how do I know? He said he was a Viscount, and that's what I called him, and everyone called him that. Isn't that the same as he is a Viscount?"

"You are incomprehensible. Come on, then..."

"So, what's the matter?"

"Mr Tanglar had dinner with you?"

"Yes."

"And your Viscount Andra Cavallecanti?"

"And Viscount Andra Cavalecanti, his father--a Marquis; and Madame Donglas, M. and Madame de Villefort--all distinguished guests; and M. Debray, Maxi Leanne Morrel; and ... wait a minute ... ah, there is Monsieur Chateau-Renaud."

"Did they mention me?"

"Not a word."

"Oops."

"Why the hell? I don't think they're thinking of you. Isn't that what you mean?"

"My dear Count, if they keep silent about me, it means that they miss me very much, and my business will be ruined."

"Miss Tangla was not among the people who thought of you at the banquet. Do they want to have something to do with you? Ah, yes, Miss Tangla can miss you at her home."

"Oh, as for her, I'm sure she won't think about it. If she really misses me, it must be how I think about her, and she will think about me."

"Same sickness and pity for each other! So you two met on a narrow road."

"Please listen to me," said Moserf, "if Miss Tangla is a good woman, she can have compassion, and can't bear to suffer for her, and finally take care of me, and abandon the marriage contract between the two parents On the one hand, I can't wait for it. All in all, I think Miss Tanglar is charming as a mistress, but as a wife, it's..."

"So," laughed Monte Cristo, "you think that's the way it is with your fiancée."

"Oh, my God! Yes, it's a bit inhuman, it's true, but at least it's not pretentious. But my dream won't come true, and Miss Tanglar must be my wife in order to achieve something." , that is to say, she has to live with me, think about her thoughts next to me, sing her songs, compose poems and compose music just 10 steps away from me, and all these will be with me for the rest of my life, so I am restless. If it is a mistress, my dear count, you can go your own way. If it is a wife, alas! It is different. That is to say, whether it is close or distant, the two must stay together. But guarding Miss Tangla, even if they are not separated, is still a thorn in the back."

"You are too picky, Viscount."

"Yes, because I'm often thinking of something that can't be done."

"what's up?"

"Find yourself a wife like my father did."

Monte Cristo's face turned pale. He looked at Albert, and while he was fiddling with the fine pistol again, he rattled the spring of the gun in an instant. "So, your father is very happy?" he said.

"You know what I think of my mother, Monsieur Comtesse, she is an angel from heaven. Look at her, she is still beautiful, full of wit, and is becoming more and more docile. I just came back from Le Trepo, and I put on something else. Son, ah, my God, being with my mother is just a flattery or a drudgery. But me, for four whole days I was only with my mother, and I was very satisfied, refreshed, poetic. Can be with you like this Let’s say, I’m just accompanying the Queen Maple or Didania, who are fairies in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream respectively. Going to Le Trepo may not be so pleasant.”

"Such perfection makes people feel at a loss. Whoever wants to listen to you, you will definitely tell him that he only wants to live a single life in his mind."

"Because of this," Moserf went on, "since I know that there are perfect women in the world, why should I bother to marry Miss Tangla! Have you ever discovered that what we have is due to our selfishness? And brighter? The diamonds that glisten in the window of a jeweler's at Marlais or Shensen are all the more dazzling when they are our own. But, faced with the obvious, you I have to admit that there are more purer diamonds, and you can only wear this pale diamond in this life, do you know how awkward it is?"

"Mortal opinion!" murmured the count.

"So, if one day Mademoiselle Eugenie finds out that I'm just an insignificant person with a property of less than 10 francs, but she has millions of property, then I will really jump for joy."

Monte Cristo smiled.

"I have thought of other things," went on Albert, "Frantz's liking for the grotesque, and I wanted him to fall in love with Mademoiselle Donglas by accident, but I wrote him four letters, and each of them He was hooked by the wonderfully written song, but he answered me with great composure and composure: 'I'm eccentric, that's all right, but I won't take back my promise because of my eccentricity.'"

"This is the so-called sincere friendship. A woman who is only willing to take her as a mistress, but wants to push it to others."

Albert smiled slightly. "By the way," he went on, "this dear Franz is coming, but it doesn't matter to you whether he comes or not, because you don't like him, I suppose?"

"Me!" said Monte Cristo, "oh, my dear vicomte, where do you see that I don't like Monsieur Franz? I like everyone."

"I'm included in all of them...thank you."

"Oh! Don't talk about it," said Monte Cristo. "I love all people, because God tells us that a Christian should love others. There are only a few people, I hate to the bone. Let's talk about it." Monsieur Franz Epinet. You mean he's coming soon?"

"Yes, M. de Villefort invited him to come. It seems that M. de Villefort is as anxious to marry Mademoiselle Valentine as M. Tangra is to marry Mademoiselle Eugenie. Indeed, it seems that the daughter Once they grow up, being a father is like sitting on pins and needles. I think if they don't take their daughters away, they will have a fever and their pulse will jump to 90 beats per minute."

"But Epinet is not like you, he accepts everything."

"Not only resignation, but he is really interested in the matter. Not only has he put on a white tie, but he is already talking about his own family. Besides, he respects the Villeforts very much."

"It should, shouldn't it?"

"I think so. M. de Villefort is always said to be severe, but just."

"Very well," said Monte Cristo, "at last there is someone you don't talk about like poor M. Tangra."

"Perhaps it is because I do not have to marry his daughter against my will," replied Albert, laughing.

"In truth, my dear Monsieur," said Monte Cristo, "you are too conceited to be acceptable."

"I?"

"Yes, you. Have a cigar."

"Okay. How can I be conceited?"

"Because you are defending yourself, you are fighting not to marry Miss Tangla. Well, my God, let this kind of thing take its course, and you may not be the first to break the contract."

"Oh!" said Albert, his eyes widening.

"Well, of course, Monsieur Vicomte, you will not be pushed in by the neck, absolutely not! Come, to be serious," continued Monte Cristo, changing his tone, "do you want to annul the engagement?" ?”

"As long as it can be refunded, I can pay 10 francs."

"Well, you don't have to worry. For this purpose, Mr. Tanglar will pay double the money."

"Is there really such a good thing?" Albert said, but although he said so, an imperceptible cloud could not help floating on his forehead, "But, my dear count, Mr. Tanglar must have his reasons, right? "

"Ah, you are so arrogant and selfish! Well, I have seen again that someone who is willing to use an ax to cut another's pride, but as soon as someone pricks his pride with a needle, he screams."

"No! But I think Mr. Tanglar..."

"Should be very satisfied with you, isn't it? Let's put it this way, Mr. Tanglar is not elegant enough, everyone says that, but he is more satisfied with another person..."

"Who is this person?"

"I don't know either. You have to think about it yourself, observe carefully, understand what they mean, and learn some truth from it."

"Well, I see. I want to tell you something, mother, no, not mother, I was wrong, my father is going to give a ball."

"Having a dance this season?"

"Summer balls are very fashionable."

"Even if this is not the case, as long as the countess has this intention, it will be fashionable."

"You can talk. You know, the ball is full of people of distinction, real Parisians who are still in Paris in July. Would you please invite the Cavalle-Conti and his son for us?" gentlemen?"

"What date is the dance?"

"Saturday."

"Old Monsieur Cavalle-Conti had already left."

"But the little M. Cavalle-Conti is still in Paris. Will you take him with you?"

"Listen to me about the Viscount, I'm not familiar with him."

"You are not familiar with it?"

"I'm not familiar with him. I only met him for the first time three or four days ago. I can't say anything about him."

"But you still invited him to dinner!"

"I invited him, that's another matter. He was introduced to me by a kind elder. Maybe the elder himself was fooled. You should go invite him directly, be more polite, but don't let Let me introduce you. How about he marry Miss Tangla in the future?
That is, you have no such emotional fiber at all, because during those four days, we had nothing to talk about except you. "

"About me? Seriously, you guys are flattering me too much!"

"Listen, it takes talent to talk about you, because you're a living problem."

"Ah! So, I'm also a problem for Lingtang? I thought she was reasonable and wouldn't make such unrealistic assumptions."

"Dear count, to everyone, whether to my mother or to others, you are a big problem, a problem that everyone wants to solve but can't solve, you have always been a mystery, so you can rest assured. But what my mother never understood was how you could be so young. It seems to me that although the Countess Guerrilla took you for Lord Rothven, she thought you were Cagliosterlo or the Count of Saint-Germain (The Adventurer (1707 ?—1784), great wit, appreciated in Paris and in the courts of various European countries.). Whenever you go to see her in the future, she will think so. It is not difficult for you, because you have Cary The touchstone of Ostello and the wisdom of Comte Saint-Germain."

"Thank you for your attention," the earl said with a smile. "Whether I can withstand all kinds of speculation, I have to do my best."

"So you'll be here on Saturday?"

"Since Mrs. Moserf has asked, I will go."

"Thank you."

"Where is Mr. Tanglar?"

"Oh, he already knows that we invited all three of them, and it was my father's responsibility to invite them. We also want to invite French judges like Aguessau (1668-1751), who was Lord Seal. Such a justice— —Monsieur de Villefort, but not much hope."

"As the saying goes, never disappoint."

"Do you dance, Count?"

"I?"

"Yes, you. What's so strange about you dancing?"

"Ah! Yes, dancing until forty... No, I don't. Does Mrs. Mossoff dance?"

"She never dances either. You can talk, and she wants to talk to you very much."

"is it?"

"I guarantee it on my reputation! Let me tell you that my mother is curious and willing to talk, you are still the first."

Albert got up, took his hat, and the count accompanied him to the door. "There is one thing I regret." He stopped Albert and said when he walked to the front steps.

"what's up?"

"I'm not cautious enough to tell you about Mr. Tanglar."

"On the contrary, you have to talk to me, often, always, but like today."

"Good! You have reassured me. By the way, when will M. d'Epinet arrive?"

"Five or six days at the latest."

"When will he get married?"

"We will be married as soon as Monsieur and Madame de Saint-Méran arrive."

"When he got to Paris, you brought him to me. Although you said I didn't like him, I must assure you that I was very glad to see him."

"Yes, I will do as you order, my lord."

"Goodbye."

"See you on Saturday, anyway, it's settled, isn't it?"

"Of course! I'll go if I say so."

The count watched Albert go, waving him farewell.Then, when Albert got into his coach, the count turned, and saw Beticio standing behind. "How?" he asked.

"She has gone to court," replied the butler.

"She stayed there a long time, didn't she?"

"An hour and a half."

"And she came home?"

"Go straight back."

"Very well, my dear Monsieur Beticio," said the count, "if I have anything to tell you now, it is that you go to Normandy and see if you can get the little share I told you about. real estate."

Beticio bowed back, the order he had received was to his liking, and he set off that evening.

(End of this chapter)