World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 151 Charges
At this point, the prosecutor looked like just another dead body in the morgue, but Mr. Avrini quickly revived him.

"Oh! the ghost of death haunts my house!" cried Villefort.

"It should be. It is the ghost of guilt," replied the doctor.

"Monsieur Avrini," exclaimed Villefort, "I cannot express to you what I feel at this moment. It is both terror and sorrow, and it is a disorientation."

"Yes," said Mr. Avrini, in a calm but respectful tone, "but I think it's time for us to act, I think it's time for the dam to be built , this tide of death must be contained, and as for myself, I do not think it possible for me to keep silent about this secrecy without seeing immediate hope of justice for society and vengeance for the victims. "

Villefort looked gloomy, and looked around. "In my house!" he murmured, "in my own house!"

"Ah, Monsieur Judge," said Affini, "be a man, and, being the mouthpiece of the law, you will earn respect only by self-sacrifice."

"What you say makes me shudder, doctor. Are you talking about self-sacrifice?"

"That's what I said."

"So you're suspicious of someone?"

"I didn't suspect anyone. The god of death knocked on the door of your mansion, walked in, walked from one room to another, it was very alert, it didn't run around blindly at all. Well, I tracked it down and recognized its whereabouts , I acted according to the philosophies of the ancients, groping my way. Since I am a close friend of your family, and because I respect you, my eyes have been covered with two pieces of cloth, uh..."

"Oh! go on, go on, doctor, and I will listen with great courage and firmness."

"Well, sir, at your house, in this building at the house, or perhaps among your family, you have had this monstrous queerness that happens only once in a century. Luo Gust and Agrippina Agripina was the queen of the Roman Empire (15-59), poisoned Claudius I with poison, and supported Nero, the son of her ex-husband, as emperor. In order to help Agrippina The woman who poisoned Gripina. The same time is purely exceptional, which just proves that the wrath of providence has finally destroyed the Roman Empire full of evil. Bruneo and Fredaigon de Bruneo (543 -613) was the queen of Austrasia, an ancient European country, and her sister was the queen of Nastri, who was poisoned to death by the king's mistress Fredegund. Bruneo provoked the two countries to fight for revenge, and later Being captured and executed by the sons of Fredegund is a product of human reluctance when civilization was first formed. At that time, human beings were learning to control their own minds. Before the poisonous hand, even when the murderous hand was being poisoned, they were still young and beautiful. Their faces were once, or even still as spotless as flowers. Similarly, the face of the sinful man in your mansion is also blooming with such a flower .”

Villefort exclaimed, clasped his hands tightly, and looked at the doctor imploringly.But the doctor is like a stone-hearted man, he only talks about it by himself.

"It is a principle of jurisprudence to first find out who benefits from the crime."

"Doctor!" cried Villefort, "ah! Doctor, how many times has the law of mankind been blundered by these absurd and harmful statements! I don't know why, but I always feel that this murder..."

"Ah! So you finally admit that it was murder?"

"Yes, I confessed it. What do you want me to say? What must be confessed must be confessed. But let me finish. Yes, I think this murder is really intended to kill me alone, not now. the few victims of my death. I suspect that after these intangible disasters, what other disasters await me."

"Ah, this man!" Affini murmured, "Man is the most selfish animal, and he is also a creature who only thinks of himself. He always thinks that the earth turns for him, the sun shines for him, and death To ravage him is like an ant on the tip of a blade of grass cursing God. Is there nothing left for the dead? Monsieur Saint-Meran, Madame Saint-Meran, Monsieur Noirquier..."

"What? Monsieur Noirquier!"

"Yes! Do you think you really wanted to kill that unfortunate servant this time? No, no, he was mistakenly killed by Hamlet like the Polish minister in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" written by Shakespeare. Same, did For the dead. The one who should really drink this lemonade is Nouakier. Logically speaking, it is inevitable that Nouakier drank it, but it is completely accidental that the other person drank it. Therefore, although it is Baru who is dead now Wa, in fact, it was Nouakiye who should have died."

"But why didn't my father die after drinking it?"

"I told you about it in the garden on the night Madame de Saint-Méran died. The reason is that his body had adapted to the poison, and the doses that would kill others had no effect on Noirquier. Besides, No one knows, nor does the murderer know that I have been using strychnine for M. Noirquier's paralysis for a year; A deadly poison."

"My God! my God!" whispered Villefort, clasping his arms.

"You may wish to see how the murderer committed the crime step by step. The murderer first killed Mr. Saint-Méran."

"Oh, doctor!"

"I can swear there's nothing wrong with it. I only heard about his symptoms, but they are exactly the same as what I saw with my own eyes."

Villefort made no reply, but groaned.

"Mr. Saint-Méran was killed first," the doctor repeated, "and then Madame de Saint-Méran was killed, so that a double inheritance would be obtained."

Villefort wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Please listen to me carefully."

"Oh!" said Villefort feebly, "I hear every word of that."

"Monsieur Noirquier," continued Monsieur Avrini in his merciless voice, "Monsieur Noirquier has not long ago made a will against you and against your house, stipulating that his estate will be Donating to the poor, M. Noirquier was spared, because he had nothing to get from him. But he had just destroyed the first will and made a second one, and the murderer was afraid that he would change his mind again. The third will, so I couldn't wait to kill him. The second was made the day before yesterday, I suppose. You see, the murderer is not at all idle."

"Oh! Say no more, Mr. Avrini!"

"I have to say, sir. The doctor in the world has another sacred mission. To accomplish this mission, he goes back to the origin of life and descends to the mysterious underworld. Someone has committed a crime, and God is sure. Surprised by it, he turned his head away from the sinner, and at this moment the doctor should have shouted: The sinner is here!"

"Spare my daughter, monsieur!" murmured Villefort.

"You see, it was you who told her, you, her father."

"Forgive Valentine! Listen to me, such a thing is impossible. To accuse me is to accuse myself! Valentine's heart is as pure as a diamond, and she is a pure white flower." lily!"

"Unforgivable, Monsieur Prosecutor. The facts of the crime are indisputable. The medicine sent to Monsieur Saint-Meran was packaged by Mademoiselle Valentine herself, but Monsieur Saint-Meran is dead. Madame de Saint-Meran's decoction is Villefort." Mademoiselle concocted it, but Madame Saint-Méran died. Baroy was away on errands, and Mademoiselle de Villefort took the bottle of lemonade from him. M. Noirquier always drank all the water in the bottle every morning. Today It is a miracle that he escaped death. Mademoiselle de Villefort was the murderer, she put the poison! Monsieur prosecutor, I denounce Mademoiselle de Villefort to you, and do your duty!"

"Doctor, I don't want to refute or argue. I believe everything you say. But please be merciful. Please spare my life and preserve my reputation."

"Monsieur de Villefort," said the doctor, with increasing vehemence, "in some cases I go beyond the bounds of so-called human prudence. If your daughter has only been poisoned for the first time, and I find that she is about to do it again." , I will say to you: 'Warn her, punish her, let her go to some monastery, go to some monastery to weep and pray,' if she poisons the second time, I will say to you: 'Please pay attention M. de Villefort, there is as yet no antidote to this poison, which is as quick as a man's thought, as quick as a thunderbolt, and as bloodless as a thunderbolt. Give her this poison with one hand, and with the other. Give her soul to God so you can save your name and save your life, because you're the one she's going to get in the end. I see her approaching your bedside with her fake face on her face Mister de Villefort, if you don't strike at once, you'll be miserable! If she had poisoned only one person, that's all I'd tell you, but she's seen it. Three people died suddenly, she watched them die unexpectedly with cold eyes, and she also knelt down for the three dead one after another hypocritically. The poisoned woman should be handed over to the executioner, hand it over to the executioner! You said you want to preserve your reputation, then You should do as I say, and you can leave your name in history."

Villefort knelt down. "Listen," said he, "I do not have your courage, or, more precisely, you would not have it if it were not Valentine but your mistress Madeleine. "

The doctor's face turned pale.

"Doctor, all men are born of women. They are born to suffer and eventually die. Doctor, I am willing to suffer, and I am willing to sit and die."

"Please pay attention," said Mr. Afneri, "this god of death is gracious. Before you see the god of death coming towards you, the first ones to be killed by death are your father, your wife, and perhaps others. son."

Villefort, speechless with emotion, clasped the doctor's arm tightly. "Listen to me!" he yelled, "you should pity me and help me... No, my daughter did not commit a crime... Take us to court, I will still say this: 'No, my daughter did not commit a crime... ...and no murders have happened in my house...' I will never promise--listen clearly, I will never promise murders in my house, because when there is a murder somewhere, it is like death. Misfortunes never come singly. Listen to me, even if I am murdered, what does it matter to you? Are you my friend? Are you human? Do you have heart? No, you are only a doctor! All right , I tell you, no, my daughter will never be handed over to the executioner by me! Oh, the thought of such an end breaks me to pieces, and I'm going to scratch like a madman with my fingernails. Take out your heart from the chest! But if you are mistaken, doctor, if the murderer is not my daughter but someone else, if one day I come to you with a pale face like a ghost and say: 'You are the murderer, you killed my daughter!' What then? Remember, if it were true, I would be a Christian, Mr. Avrini, then I would be I have no choice but to kill myself and warn the world."

"Okay," the doctor said after a moment of silence, "I'll wait."

Villefort stared blankly at the doctor, as if he still only doubted what he said.

"Only," went on Mr. Avrini, calmly and in a most serious tone, "if any one else in the house falls ill, if you feel that something has been done to you, you need not call me, Because I will not come again. I can keep this terrible secret with you, but if the murders and man-made disasters in the house can be repeated, repeated, and worse, I cannot repeat it. , I feel guilty again and again, in vain, the conscience reproach I have suffered cannot always be endless like this."

"So you don't know me from now on, doctor?"

"Yes, I can't follow you farther and farther, and I'm stopping now because I have to go to the foot of the guillotine. There will still be times when the truth comes out, and by then, this appalling tragedy will come to an end .I take my leave."

"Doctor, I hope you hold your hand high."

"These unconscionable incidents not only alarm me, but make your house a heinous haunted house. Farewell, sir."

"Just one more word, just one more word, doctor! The situation is already frightening, but after your analysis, it becomes even more turbulent, but you want to leave and leave me alone. However, this How can the poor old servant be told that he died so suddenly, that he died as soon as he said it?"

"Yes," said Avrini, "you see me out."

The doctor went out of the room first, and M. de Villefort came out after him. There were servants standing on the corridor and the stairs that the doctor must pass, and they were all terrified and silent.

"Monsieur," said Avrini to Villefort, in a voice loud enough to be heard by those around him, "poor Barois, who has been staying indoors these last few years, may have been very fond of him before." Riding horses or cars with his master, he traveled around Europe. In recent years, he just circled around in a wheelchair. He had a lumpy head and a stubby neck, and he died of a fulminant stroke, and it was too late when you called me. By the way," he continued in a low voice, "be sure to put the Violet juice poured into the ashes."

The people in the small building wept and lamented, but the doctor left alone, neither shaking Villefort's hand nor discussing what he had just said.That night, all the servants of the Villefort family gathered in the kitchen. They discussed for a long time, and finally went to Madame Villefort, asking for leave and leaving the mansion.Although they kept them repeatedly and promised to increase their wages, they failed to keep them.No matter how much they persuaded them, they always replied, "We have to go, because death is in this building." At last they ignored their master's begging and left one by one, and when they left, they all said that they were also very sad. , it was only as a last resort that they left such a good master, and they were especially reluctant to leave Mademoiselle Valentina, because the lady was so kind, not only soft-tempered, but also always so kind to her servants.While the servant was saying this, Villefort involuntarily glanced at Valentine, who was already sobbing.However, it was incredible, and Villefort was overwhelmed with emotion when he saw his daughter's tears pouring down like rain. He glanced at Madame Villefort again, and he seemed to see a fleeting smile on those thin lips. Just like in the dark sky before a thunderstorm, the ominous shooting star suddenly flitted among the dark clouds.

(End of this chapter)