World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 140 Meeting Minutes (2)
"Sir," said the Chairman, "you are invited to this meeting, not forced. We offered to blindfold you, and you accepted. When you accept these two demands , you know very well that we have no intention of going so far as to ensure the throne of Louis XVIII, otherwise we would not have to be so cautious about guarding against the police. Now, I think you also understand that wearing a mask to spy on other people's secrets, and then taking off the mask It would be too handy to ruin the reputation of the person you are sincerely meeting. No, you must first confess, are you loyal to the short-lived king who is currently reigning, or to His Majesty the Emperor?"

"I am a Royalist," replied the general, "and having sworn my allegiance to Louis XVIII, I shall remain so."

As soon as the general had finished speaking, the audience was erupting immediately. From the eyes of many members, it could be seen that they were discussing how to teach M. d'Epinet a lesson so that he should not speak such wild words.

At this time, the chairman stood up again and asked the venue to keep quiet. "Sir," said the chairman to the general, "you are so serious and sensible that you don't know the consequences of our confrontation with each other. Your frankness compels us to make the following conditions to you in the end: You must use your Honor swore to never reveal what you heard."

The general pressed his sword with one hand and shouted: "Since honor is mentioned, at least you must not ignore the relevant laws and must not impose violence on others."

"And you, sir," said the chairman, with a calmness perhaps more terrifying than the general's anger, "I advise you not to touch your sword."

The general looked around, his eyes began to look terrified, but he still did not give in, instead he summoned up his courage and said:

"I don't swear."

"Then, sir, you must die," replied the chairman calmly.

Mr. Epinet's face turned pale immediately, and he looked around again. Several club members were whispering to each other while reaching for their weapons under their cloaks.

"General," the chairman said, "don't panic. The people around you are very concerned about reputation. We must first try our best to persuade you, and we will take extreme measures against you as a last resort. But you just said that the people around you are all conspiracies Molecule, you have our secret again, and now you must give it back to us."

The chairman said that the audience was completely silent, shrouded in a meaningful silence.The general made no answer, so the chairman said to the members guarding the door: "Shut the door." After the chairman's words, there was another deathlike silence in the meeting room. At this time, the general stepped forward, trying to control himself, and said: "I have a Son, since I can't help myself among a group of assassins, I have to think about my son."

"General," said the chairman of the assembly solemnly, "it is the privilege of the weak that one man may insult fifty persons, but he will make a great mistake if he really exercises this privilege. Listen to me, general, and swear, Don't insult us."

The general was once again subdued by the majesty of the chairman of the conference, he couldn't help hesitating for a moment, but he finally walked towards the rostrum. "What about the oath?" he asked.

"Let me say this: I swear on my honor that I will never tell anyone what I saw or heard between 1815:2 and 5:9 p.m. on February 10, [-]. If I break this oath, I am willing to die."

The general seemed flustered, trembling slightly, and was speechless for a while.At last he suppressed the obvious resentment, and said the oath he wanted to say, but the voice was very low, and it was extremely difficult to hear. Several members asked him to re-swear, the voice must be loud and clear, and he complied. "Now I want to retire," said the general. "I shall be free, shall I?"

The chairman stood up, designated three members to go with him, then blindfolded the general, and boarded the carriage together.Among the three members, one was the driver who took the chairman and the general to the meeting.The rest of the club members left quietly.

"Where do you want us to take you?" asked the chairman.

"Anywhere as long as you are out of sight," replied M. d'Epinet.

"Sir," the chairman continued, "please note that you have withdrawn from the meeting, and those who are with you are responsible only to themselves.If you don't want to take responsibility for yourself for insulting people, don't insult people. "

M. d'Epinay, however, would not listen to such words, but replied: "The reason, sir, that you are as brave in the carriage as you were in the club, is simply that four are always stronger than one."

The chairman gave the order to stop. At this time, the carriage just arrived at the intersection of the Rue d'Orme by the Seine River.

"Why did you order to stop here?" asked M. d'Epinet.

"Because, sir," said the chairman, "you have insulted a person, and this person is aboveboard. I now ask you to make an apology, otherwise I won't go any further."

"Another move, ready to assassinate." The general said with a shrug.

"Sir," said the chairman, "if you don't want me to think of you as what you just said, the kind of coward who uses cowardice as a shield, then stop talking nonsense. You are only a human being, and no one who fights back against you Only one man. You have a sword at your side, and I have a sword in my stick. You have no witnesses, none of these gentlemen can be your witnesses. Now, if you think it is right, you can take the mask Take off the handkerchief that covers your eyes."

The general immediately took off the handkerchief that covered his eyes, "I can finally know who is fighting against me." He said.

At this moment, the door of the carriage opened, and all four jumped out of the carriage...

Once again Franz could not continue reading, and he wiped the sweat dripping from his brow.A son who never knew how his biological father was martyred, and now he reads the whole story aloud by himself, only to see him trembling and his face pale, how can this situation not be shocking?Valentine put her hands together, as if in prayer.Noirquier looked at Villefort with contempt and pride with his eyes like a rainbow.Franz went on to read:

As mentioned above, this day is February 2th.It has been freezing cold for three days, the temperature is only five or six degrees, and the stone steps are covered with ice, making it extremely difficult to walk.The general was tall and fat, and the chairman let him down over the side of the rail, followed by two witnesses.The vast night was black, and the open space by the river under the stone steps was covered with snow and frost, and the dark and deep river water was bubbling with ice cubes.A witness found a lamp on a collier, and the witness inspected the weapons with the lamp.The chairman's sword is just as I said, just a sword hidden in a cane. Not only is it shorter than his opponent's sword, but the handle does not have a guard.The general proposed drawing lots for swords, but the chairman replied that he himself would be the first to provoke, and he had stated that each person used his own sword when he challenged.The two witnesses wanted to insist on drawing lots, but the chairman forbade them to talk too much.

The lamp is placed on the ground, the two opponents stand on each side, and the duel begins.Under the light, only two swords were shining coldly, and the night was very dense, but there were no dueling figures.The general can be described as a master fencer in the army, but he was forced to back up and fell to the ground as soon as he fought.Witnesses thought he had been stabbed to death, but his opponent knew he hadn't stabbed the general and reached out to help him up.Seeing this situation, instead of calming down, the general became furious and rushed towards his opponent with a sprint.But the opponent didn't take half a step back, but swung his sword to meet him.The general retreated three times in succession, three times he was cornered, three times he swung his sword back, and on the third time he fell to the ground again.Everyone thought that he just slipped and fell just like the first time, but the two witnesses saw that he was still getting up, so they walked over and tried to help him up. Unexpectedly, the witness who hugged him felt that his hands were wet and hot. Blood has flowed all over his hands.

The general, who had almost fainted, regained consciousness. "Ah!" he said, "the one you sent me was a professional swordsman, a fencing instructor."

The chairman did not answer, but walked towards the witness who was carrying the lamp, raised his sleeves, and stretched out his arms, but he saw that he was stabbed in two places by a sword.Then he opened his jacket and unbuttoned his vest, revealing the third gash in his ribs, but he didn't groan.At this time, the general was dying, and he died 5 minutes later...

Franz's voice was so choked up by the time he read these last sentences that he could hardly hear what he said.Here he paused again, and wiped his eyes with his hand, as if trying to dispel some cloud.But after a moment's silence, he read on:

The Chairman thrust his sword into his staff, and stepped up the stone steps, leaving a trail of blood on the snow he had trod.Before he reached the top of the stone steps, he heard a splash in the river. It turned out that the two witnesses confirmed that the general was dead and pushed his body into the river.Therefore, the general died in an open and aboveboard duel. If someone later said that he was assassinated and died unexpectedly, it would be absurd.

In order to state the truth, in case any of those involved in this dreadful event should at some time be charged with premeditated murder or other dishonorable acts, we hereby sign this memorandum in evidence.

Signed by: Bolepel
Duchampy

Le Chapar
Franz finally finished reading the meeting minutes, which shocked a son. Valentine turned pale with excitement, and quietly wiped the tears from her cheeks. Pleading eyes, trying to calm down the storm in front of him.

"Monsieur," said d'Epinet to Noirquier, "since you know all the details of this dreadful incident, and since you have been able to get the signatures of those persons of esteem, and besides, it appears that your concern It's just painful, but you seem to care about me, so please don't refuse my last request, please tell me the name of this club president, so that I can kill my poor father Who are the people in the world?"

Villefort touched the handle of the door as if flustered, and Valentine knew what the old man was going to say before anyone thought of it, because she had already noticed the two sword wounds on the old man's arm. She couldn't help taking a step back.

"For heaven's sake, madam!" said Franz to his fiancée, "help me with the name of the man who killed my father at the age of two."

Valentine was always silent, and stood by in awe.

"Oh, sir," said Villefort, "believe me, this is the end of this heart-pounding affair, and besides, the name is deliberately avoided. My father did not know the president himself, even if he I know him, but now he can't say it, the name can't be found in the dictionary."

"Oh, what a misfortune!" cried Franz, "that I have been able to read the minutes, and have the strength to read them to the end, only because I still have the hope that I may know who killed my father. What's the man's name! Monsieur, monsieur!" he turned to Noirquier, "for God's sake, I beg you, do whatever it takes to tell me, let me know..."

"Okay." Nouakiye gestured and replied.

"Oh, miss, miss," cried Franz, "your grandfather has indicated that he can tell me... Be sure to act with urgency."

Noirquier looked at the dictionary.

Franz tremblingly picked up the dictionary and read the letters down to M.Hearing this letter, the old man made an affirmative expression.

"M!" repeated Franz.The young man then pointed to the words in the dictionary one by one, but Nouakier indicated that he was wrong about all the words he pointed to.Valentine, who was on the side, just covered her face tightly with her hands.Finally Franz pointed to the word MOI (me).

"Yes." The old man gestured (In the previous article (Chapter 12), Nouakie was the vice chairman of the club.).

"You!" cried Franz, his hair standing on end, "you, Monsieur Noirquier! Did you kill my father?"

"Yes." Noirquier gestured and replied, his majestic eyes fixed on the young man.

Franz sank down on a chair, and Villefort opened the door of the room and went out hastily, for at that moment the idea suddenly occurred to him of attempting to annihilate the last breath of life that still existed in the old man's terrible heart.

(End of this chapter)