World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 189 Maximilian (2)
At this time, Avrini said loudly: "I am the same. Together with M. Morrel, I firmly demand that the murderer be punished. When I think of my cowardice and accommodating, I finally encouraged the murderer. Depressed and uneven."

"Oh, my God! my God!" murmured Villefort despondently.

Morrel looked up, and saw a strange fire in the old man's eyes. "Look," said he, "look, M. Noirquier has something to say."

"Yes." Nouakiye gestured.The poor old man couldn't move all over his body, and all his senses were concentrated in these eyes. At this moment, the expression in these eyes was particularly terrifying.

"Do you know who the murderer is?" asked Morrel.

"Yes." Nouakiye gestured and replied.

"Are you going to tell us what to do?" cried the young man. "Listen, everybody! Listen, Mr. Avrini!"

Noirquier looked at poor Morrel with a wry smile, but it was these eyes that so many times gave Valentine joy with their smiling eyes.Noirquier stared intently at Morrel, and then his eyes, as it were, were closely linked with Morrel's, and he directed Morrel's eyes to the door.

"Do you wish me to go away, sir?" cried Morrel sadly.

"Yes," Noirquier gestured.

"Oh! Oh! Sir, let me stay!"

The old man's eyes were impassive, always staring at the door.

"At least I can come back?" asked Morrel.

"Yes."

"Am I the only one going away?"

"Do not."

"Who's going to go away with me? Mr. Attorney?"

"Do not."

"Doctor?"

"Yes."

"You wish to speak to M. de Villefort alone?"

"Yes."

"Can he understand you?"

"can."

"Ah!" said Villefort, almost overjoyed that the investigation could be conducted in secret. "Ah! Don't worry, I understand my father very well."

When the prosecutor said this, his face showed the overjoyed expression we have mentioned, and he was so excited that he gritted his teeth.Affini took Morrel's arm and led him into a side room.There was no sound in the small building, it was even quieter than dead silence.A quarter of an hour later, at last, with the sound of shambling steps, Villefort arrived at the door of the drawing-room, where Avrini and Morrel were waiting, the one absorbed in thought, the other panting with impatience. But come.

"Come here, please," said Villefort.He led them both to Noirquier's wheelchair, and Morrel gazed at Villefort intently.The prosecutor's face was ashen, and there were wide and large rust-like sweat stains on his forehead. A quill in his hand had been crumpled into a shapeless shape, and was about to drop pieces of it. "Sirs," he said to Avrini and Morrel in a hoarse voice, "sirs, swear on your honor that you will never reveal this terrible secret!" Avrini and Morrel were astonished. Pale. "I beg you..." continued Villefort.

"But," said Morrel, "the criminal? The murderer? The murderer?"

"Be assured, sir, that justice will be done," said Villefort; "my father has revealed to me the name of the criminal, and my father, like you, desires vengeance; but my father and I implore you both to keep the secret." , don't give away the crime of murder. Is that so, father?"

"Yes." Nuwakiye gestured with a very firm expression.

Morrel could not help expressing a look of revulsion and disbelief.

"Oh!" cried Villefort, taking Maximilian's arm. "Oh! Monsieur, you know that my father, who was a strong man, made this request to you because he knew Valentine Is that so, father?" The old man made a positive gesture, and Villefort went on, "he knows me, and I swear to him. So don't worry, gentlemen, three days, I only ask you to give me three days, which is shorter than the usual time for a case. After three days, I will definitely avenge the murderer of my child. At that time, even the most hard-hearted people will be shocked when they see it. Is that so, father?" At this point, he gritted his teeth and shook the old man's numb hand again and again.

"Is what you just said really true, Monsieur Noirquier?" asked Morrel, and Avrini asked the old man with his eyes.

"Yes." Nouakiye gestured with his eyes, with a kind of sly joy in his eyes.

"Swear, then, gentlemen," said Villefort, taking Avrini and Morrel together by the hands, "will you swear that you will protect the honor of my family, and let me avenge it myself?"

Avrini turned away and said softly "Yes," but Morrel took the hand from the judge's, rushed to the bed, and pressed his lips to Valentine's cold lips. After a moment, he let out a long sigh from the depths of his desperate heart, and hurried out.

As mentioned above, all the servants in the mansion slipped away.M. de Villefort had to ask Avrini to take care of the funeral.For funerals in our big cities, especially when the cause of death is unknown, there are a lot of procedures to go through, and it is very difficult to go through.As for Noirquier, it was sad to see him so distressed that he could not move, that he was in despair but did not gesture, that he was weeping but could not cry out.Villefort retired to his own study.Avrini went to the city hall doctor, a doctor who specialized in autopsies, so most people simply called him the dead man's doctor.Noirquier refused to leave his granddaughter's room.Half an hour later, Mr. Affini returned to the mansion with one of his colleagues.The gate of the mansion facing the street was closed.The porter had long since slipped away with the other servants, and Villefort was obliged to open the door himself.But he stopped at the foot of the stairs, and he had lost the courage to enter Valentine's room again, so the two doctors went in by themselves.Noirquier remained by the bed, as pale as the dead man, motionless and lifeless.The dead doctor, who spent half his life dealing with dead people, walked to the bed indifferently, lifted the sheet covering the girl, and parted his lips a little to look.

"Oh!" said Avrini with a sigh. "Poor girl, she's dead. I'll see."

"Yes," replied the doctor, refusing to say a word, and letting go of the sheet, covered Valentine's face.At this moment, he faintly heard Noirquier's hoarse panting, and Avrini turned around, seeing the fire in the old man's eyes.The kind doctor understood at once that Noirquier still wanted to see his granddaughter, so he pushed the old man to the bed.At this time, the dead doctor was soaking and disinfecting the fingers that had just touched the dead man's lips in oxidized water. Avrini went over and lifted the bed sheet, revealing the peaceful and clean face like a sleeping angel again.Nouakiya thanked this kind doctor very much from the bottom of his heart, and another line of tears flowed from the corner of his eyes.The dead doctor issued the death certificate on the corner of a table in Valentina's room. This was the last official formality in life, after which Avrini accompanied the dead doctor.When Villefort heard them coming downstairs, he came out of his study, went to the door, said a few words of thanks to the dead doctor, and then turning to Avrini, said: "The priest must be called now?"

"Have you already thought of some priest to ask for Valentine's prayers?" asked Avrini.

"No," said Villefort, "seek out one near you."

"The nearest priest," said the dead doctor, "is that good Italian elder. He lived near your house not long after he moved in. Would you like me to drop by and invite him?"

"Avrini," said Villefort, "I think it would be better for you to accompany this gentleman. Here is the key, so that you may come in and out as you please. Come with the priest, and lead him directly to my place." Poor child's room."

"Would you like to speak to him, my friend?"

"I want to be alone for a while. You will understand me, won't you? I am sure the priest understands all kinds of grief, including the pain that a father may have."

After speaking, M. de Villefort handed Avrini a bunch of keys, bowed once more to the strange doctor, and went into his study to resume his work.For some, work is the cure for all ailments.The two doctors came out of the mansion into the street, just in time to see a man in a cassock standing at the door of a neighboring building.

"He is the priest I mentioned just now." The dead doctor said to Avrini.

Avrini went to greet the priest. "Monsieur," said he, "will you please go and look after a poor father, M. Prosecutor Villefort, who has just lost his daughter?"

"Ah, sir," replied the abbe, with a very thick Italian accent, "yes, I already know that someone in the family has died."

"Then, I won't tell you why he took the liberty to ask you to take care of him."

"I am going to present myself, sir," said the abbe. "It is our duty."

"The deceased was a girl."

"Ah, I already know that I happened to see their servants fleeing, and they told me. I already know her name is Valentine, and I have prayed for her."

"Thank you, thank you, sir," said Avrini, "and now that you have begun your responsibilities, I hope you will spare me some trouble. If you would sit by the dead man's side, the grief-stricken family will surely Will be grateful to you."

"I'll go, sir," replied the Elder, "with all due respect, no one else's prayer is so truly moving as my own."

Avrini led the elder into the small building of Villefort's house, but he did not see Villefort, who was still busy working in the study, so the doctor led the elder into Valentine's room, and the funeral parlor could not come to collect the funeral until evening.As soon as the elder entered Valentine's room, Noirquier's eyes met the elder's. Obviously the old man felt that he saw something unusual in the elder's eyes, because after seeing the elder, Noir Keye was always staring at him intently.Avrini entrusted not only the dead Valentine, but also the living Noirquier to the priest. The priest told Avrini that while praying for Valentine, he would take good care of the old man. .The abbot began his ordination solemnly, and apparently in order that no one should disturb his prayers and Noirquier in grief, he closed and locked the door as soon as the doctor left, and opened the The door to Mrs. Fu's room was also locked.

(End of this chapter)