World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 193 Pere Lachaise Cemetery (2)
"Then you stand in the way!" replied Morrel, trying violently to free himself from the hand of Monte Cristo, but, as before, it was nothing more than an egg-throwing stone before the iron arm of the count.

"I will stop you!"

"What kind of man are you to play such tricks on free-thinking people?" cried Maximilian.

"Who am I?" asked Monte Cristo again, "then listen carefully. I am," continued Monte Cristo, "and I am the only person in the world who has the right to say that to you: Morrel , I will never allow your father's son to let go of this world today!"

Monte Cristo, as if in a different person, suddenly became majestic, supernatural, and walked towards the young man with his hands folded on his chest. Overwhelmed by the man's god-like appearance, he couldn't help taking a step back. "Why do you mention my father?" murmured Morrel, "why do you confuse my father's past with my present?"

"Because one day your father was about to kill himself as you are today, and I was the one who saved his life, because it was the one who sent the purse to your sister, and the king of Egypt to old Morrel. Me, because that was Edmond Dantès who played with you on your lap when you were a child!"

Morrel staggered back another step, gasping for breath, dumbfounded, feeling that his soul was gone, and then his whole body softened, and he fell down at the foot of Monte Cristo with a loud cry.In an instant, this wonderful body suddenly evoked a new vitality from head to toe, he stood up, rushed out of the room, rushed to the stairs, and shouted loudly with all his strength: "Julie! Julie! Emmanuel! Emmanuel!"

Monte Cristo also wanted to rush out of the room, but Maximilian pressed the door firmly and pushed the door shut to prevent the count from coming out.Hearing Maximilian's shout, Julie, Emmanuel, Perneron and several servants rushed over in panic.Morrel held them back, and opened the door. "Kneel!" he cried in a choked voice, sobbing. "Kneel! He is the benefactor, the one who saved our father's life! He is..." He was about to say, "He is Edmond." Dantès!" The count interrupted him, grasping his arm.

Julie rushed to grab the count's hand, Emmanuel embraced the count as if seeing a patron saint, and Morrel knelt down again, touching his forehead to the floor.At this time, the hard-hearted man couldn't help but feel his heart swell, and a scorching flame rushed from his throat to his eyes. He lowered his head and burst into tears.For a moment, the sound of sobs and exclamations in the room merged into one, which was so soul-stirring that even God's most beloved angel would feel mellow and lingering when he heard it.With mixed feelings, Julie has not completely calmed down, so she hurried out of the room, walked to the second floor, ran into the living room happily like a child, opened the round crystal cover, and took out the good man who did not leave his name. The purse left in Mai Hang Lane.

After Julie went downstairs, Emmanuel said intermittently to the count: "Oh, Mr. Count, how can this be? You clearly saw us talking about our anonymous benefactor! How could it be?" In this way, you can clearly see that we are very grateful and respectful to this benefactor, and we are always missing him! How could you wait until today to let us know that you are our great benefactor? Oh! This is so cruel Well, not only to us, but I can almost say, Monsieur Count, too cruel to yourself."

"Listen, my friend," said the count, "I may call you that, because, without knowing it yourself, you have been my friend for eleven years, and now that the secret is revealed, it is a matter of pure You don't need to know about it. God can testify for me. I wanted to keep this secret in my heart for the rest of my life. Your brother-in-law Maximilian's words were too violent for a while, so I had to tell the truth. , I'm sure he's already regretting what he said." At this moment the count saw Maximilian leaning sideways on a chair, but still kneeling on the floor. "Please keep your eyes on him," said Monte Cristo softly, clapping Emmanuel's hand implicitly.

"Why?" Emmanuel asked in surprise.

"I cannot tell you, but you must keep an eye on him."

Emmanuel looked around the room and saw Morrel's pistol.He was suddenly astonished, fixed his eyes on the weapon, and slowly raised a finger to point there, beckoning to Monte Cristo.Monte Cristo nodded, and Emmanuel moved towards the pistol. "Don't touch it," said the count.Then the count came up to Morrel, and took his hand.The young man had been in a mess of thoughts just now, but now he was dumbfounded and just stood there alone in a daze.

Julie returned to the third floor, holding the silk purse in her hand, and two crystal clear tears of joy hanging like dewdrops on her cheeks. "This is our sacred object," she said, "you must not think that now that we know who our benefactor is, I will not cherish this sacred object so much."

"My dear children," said Monte Cristo, blushing, "give me back the purse, now that you know my face, I only ask you to think of what I hope for you." Just give me love."

"Oh!" said Julie, clutching the purse to her heart, "no, no, you can't, because someday you'll leave us, because someday you'll leave us, yes?"

"You guessed it right, Madame," replied Monte Cristo, smiling, "in a week's time I shall be leaving this country, where many who deserve to be punished by heaven are blessed with good fortune, while my father is starving. Worry about death."

Monte Cristo looked at Morrel when he spoke of his imminent intention to leave, and he saw that Morrel was still in a daze, despite having said clearly, "I am leaving the country."Monte Cristo realized that he would have to do something at last to relieve his friend of his pain, so he took the hands of Julie and Emmanuel, and clasped them together in his own, like a He said to them in the same gentle tone as his father: "My dear friends, I would like to ask you to let me talk to Maximilian alone."

For Julie, this was an opportunity. Monte Cristo must have forgotten to mention the purse, and Julie happened to take this precious souvenir away.So she hurriedly dragged her husband away. "Let them talk," she said.

The count and Morrel were alone in the room, and Morrel was still stupefied, as immovable as a statue.

"Oh," said the count affectionately, touching Morrel's shoulder with his finger, "are you at last a man again, Maximilian?"

"Yes, I'm in pain again."

The count frowned, and it seemed that he was hesitating again in distress. "Maximilian! Maximilian!" he went on, "these thoughts in your mind are not befitting a Christian."

"Oh! Be assured, my friend," said Morrel, looking up, and smiling at the count with an indescribable sadness, "I will not seek death now."

"Then," said the count, "arms and despair may be put away."

"Yes, because I already have something better than the barrel of a gun and the light of a knife to heal my pain."

"Poor madman! What can you do?"

"Sorrow in my heart can slowly kill me."

"My friend," said Monte Cristo, who looked as melancholy as Morrel's, "listen to me: there was a day when I was as hopeless as you are now, because my resolutions were exactly the same as yours now. , I, like you now, also thought of suicide. One day before, your father also felt hopeless, and he also thought of suicide. When your father pointed the pistol at his forehead, someone reminded him that when I put When the bread I hadn't eaten in three days was pushed away again from my bed, I was reminded that, after all, at the end of our lives, someone said to both of us: 'Live! One day you will Feel happy, or you will praise life.' No matter where the voice came from, we listened to it, maybe because we were dubious and smiled, maybe because we couldn't believe it, we still looked down, but then I don't know how many times your father hugged you and praised you life, and myself, I don't know how many times..."

"Ah!" cried Morrel, interrupting the count, "you lost only your liberty, my father lost only his property, and I, I lost Valentine."

"Look at me, Morrel," said Monte Cristo, in the very solemn tone which, on certain occasions, made him so tall, and his words so convincing. "Look at me well. Although I don't have tears in my eyes, I don't feel frantic, and I don't feel heartbroken, but I can see your pain, Maximilian, I love you like an old cow licking a calf. Oh Morrel, do you know that grief is like life, there is always something unexpected? So, the reason why I persuade you, the reason why I command you to live well, is because I have no doubt that there will be a day in the future You'll thank me for saving your life."

"My God!" cried the young man, "my God! where have you been, Count? Say no more, perhaps you have never loved?"

"You are really a child!" said the count.

"I mean love," went on Morrel. "I, you know, have been a soldier all my life. I never loved until I was twenty-nine, because of all the emotions I had experienced up to that time." , nothing can be called love. Oh! When I was 29 years old, I met Valentina. For almost two years, I have always loved her. For almost two years, her heart is always like an open book. Open to me, I have read all the virtues of wife and daughter that God has written for this heart. Comte, with Valentine, I am extremely happy, and I feel that this happiness will last forever, Endless and unprecedented. I feel that this happiness is indeed too high, too perfect, too sacred for our world. However, this world will not reward me with such happiness in the end, Count, may it be to you Let me tell you, without Valentina, all that is left to me in this world is despair and sorrow."

"As I told you, hope, Morrel," said the count.

"Well, then, I might as well say it again, please don't say more," said Morrel; "you always try to convince me, but you do convince me, and you make me lose my mind, because your words are nothing more than Convince me at last that I shall see Valentine again."

The Count just smiled.

"My friend, my father!" exclaimed Morrel, growing agitated, "don't say more; this is the third time I say this to you, because you have indeed a great influence over me. , I can't help being frightened. Please pay attention to what your words and words mean, because now my eyes are opened again, the fire of life in me is kindled again, and my heart is revived. Please don't Say more, because you want me to believe things that are impossible in the world. If you tell me to tell me that the character in Jairus's "Bible" story, Jesus raised his daughter. The tombstone of the daughter's tomb is lifted , I will obey your orders; if you wave your hand to tell me to walk on the waves, I will surely walk on the waves like a saint. You better not say more, because I will do what you say What."

"Have hope, my friend!" continued the count.

"Ah!" said Morrel, who once again fell from the heights of excitement into the abyss of melancholy, "ah! you are playing tricks on me, like those tender mothers, or rather, those selfish Mother, sad children are crying and crying, and they are tired of hearing it, so they say a lot of nice words to coax the children. No, my friend, I shouldn't say anything to you. Don't talk too much. No, you don't have to be afraid at all, I will Take great care to bury my pain deep in my heart, I will keep it secret, never let my pain be seen again, and you will not even bother to show any pity. Good-bye, my friend, good-bye Bar!"

"On the contrary," said the count, "from now on, Maximilian, you must live with me, stay with me, and never leave me for a moment, and in a week we will be flying away from France. "

"Would you still tell me to have hope?"

"I call you hopeful, because I know that there is a cure for what is wrong with you."

"Count, if I haven't suffered enough, you may add some more. You always think that this shock has caused me no more than that, and you think that it is not enough. That’s all, that way of traveling can comfort me.” Morrel shook his head, arrogantly showing disbelief.

"What do you want me to say to you?" said Monte Cristo. "I am sure that my promise will be fulfilled. You must let me try."

"Count, all you have done is prolong my last days."

"Then," said the count, "you are so feeble of heart that you have not the strength to give your friend a few days to see the result of his present course of action. Oh! do you know what the Count of Monte Cristo can do?" Do you know how much power he can control in the world? Do you know that he believed in God so much that he prayed to God to create miracles, and God said, 'If a person has faith, he can move a whole mountain'? Ah! This miracle, I am hopeful, you must wait patiently, otherwise..."

"Otherwise..." Morrel repeated.

"Otherwise, take care, Morrel, and I shall call you ungrateful."

"You must sympathize with me, Count."

"I sympathize with you, Maximilian, listen to me, I sympathize with you so much that if, from today on the day, and from this moment on the hour, if I cannot heal your pain a month from now, Remember my words, then, Morrel, and I will myself set before you these two loaded pistols, and a glass of the most effective Italian poison, which you believe More poisonous, I say, than the poison that killed Valentine."

"Did you really tell me that?"

"Yes, because I'm a man, because I'm the same, I've told you that, I've thought of death too, and I've often dreamed of that eternal sleep interest."

"Oh! Can it be wrong? Have you promised me, Count?" Maximilian couldn't help crying.

"I do not promise, but I swear to you," said Monte Cristo, raising his hand.

"You swear on your honor that if I have not received any consolation after a month, you say that you will let me dispose of my life freely, and no matter what I do, you will not say that I am ungrateful?"

"A month later, a day counts, Maximilian; a month later, an hour counts an hour. It's a sacred date, Maximilian, I don't know if you've thought it, it's September 9th. 5 years ago today, your father tried to kill himself, and it was I who saved him."

Morrel took the earl's hand and kissed it, but the earl did not refuse, as if he knew that he was well deserved to be admired.

"In a month's time," continued Monte Cristo, "we will sit down at this table, and you will see that there is a fine pistol on the table, and you can die with peace of mind. But, on the other hand, you should also respond I will wait until this day, and live until this day."

"Oh! yes," cried Morrel; "I swear to you, too!"

Monte Cristo drew the young man into his arms, and held him for a long time. "Now," he said to the young man, "starting today, you will live with me, and you will live in Eddie's apartment. My daughter is gone, and another son has come."

"Ede!" said Morrel, "what is the matter with Ede?"

"She set off last night."

"Is she leaving you?"

"She'll go ahead and wait for me... You pack up right away and find me on the Champs-Elysées. Take me out now, and don't let people see me."

Maximilian bowed his head as if he were a child or a saint, and obediently obeyed the count.

(End of this chapter)