World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 200 Judge (2)
"Ah!" said Villefort, in a tone so frightening, "she wants to listen!"

The servant couldn't help but took a step back and said, "If Mr. intends to go alone, I'll go over and tell Madam."

Villefort made no answer, but pinched his cheek with his fingernails.His pale cheeks were bloodless, and his swarthy beard looked particularly harsh.After a while, he said: "Tell Madam, I want to talk to her, and ask her to wait for me in her room."

"Yes, sir."

"Come again and shave and change my clothes."

"Coming soon."

Sure enough, the valet returned after a short walk, shaved Villefort, and dressed him in a stately black suit.When the waiter was about to stop, the attendant said again: "Madam, please get dressed and go over."

"I'm going right now."

Villefort, therefore, with the file under his arm and his hat in his hand, made his way to his wife's apartment.At the door, he stopped again, took out a handkerchief to wipe his pale forehead, and wiped away the sweat dripping from it, and then he opened the door and went in.

Madame de Villefort was sitting on a divan, impatiently leafing through the papers and some pamphlets, which were torn apart by the boy Edward before she could finish them.She was ready to go out, her hat was on the chair, and her gloves were on her hands. "Ah! here you come, sir," said she, in the most calm and natural voice, "my God! you are so pale, sir! so you have been working all night again? Why don't you Come down to lunch with us? Will you take me with you, or shall I take Edward by myself?"

It was obvious that Madame de Villefort, by asking a series of questions in this way, wanted to make her husband speak, but no matter how she asked, Villefort always remained as cold and silent as a statue. "Edward," said Villefort, casting a stern look at the child, "you go and play in the drawing-room, and leave the child alone. I want to speak to your mother."

Madame de Villefort shuddered at the sight of such a stern face, at the hearing of such an authoritative tone, and at the incomprehensible tone of the preface.Edward looked up at his mother, but seeing that she ignored M. de Villefort's orders, he went to behead his little lead soldiers.

"Edward!" exclaimed M. de Villefort so viciously that the boy jumped up and fell on the carpet. "Do you hear me? Come on!"

It was rare for this child to see him treated like this, and he got up from the carpet by himself, his face turned pale, no one could tell whether he was angry or scared.His father walked over, grabbed him, and kissed him on the forehead. "Come," said Villefort, "come, my child!"

Edward walked out.M. de Villefort went to the door, and as soon as the child had gone he closed it, bolted it, and locked it.

"Oh, my God!" said the young woman, looking straight into her husband's soul, as if trying to penetrate his soul, with a slight smile on her lips, but when she saw Villefort's indifferent face , the smile on the corner of his mouth froze instantly, "Is something wrong?"

"Ma'am, where do you keep the poison you usually use?" The judge stood between the door and his wife, and asked slowly, straight to the point.

Madame de Villefort's feeling at this moment may be the feeling that Lark felt when he saw the murderous kite eagle above his head tightening the circle.Her face suddenly turned deathly pale, and involuntarily let out a feeble grunt from her chest, which was not only hoarse and ugly, but also neither a cry nor a sigh. "Sir..." she said, "I... I don't understand what this means." Just now she stood up in a panic, and now she fell into a panic that was probably even worse, and she collapsed On the sofa cushions.

"I am asking you," continued Villefort, very calmly, "where is the poison with which you poisoned my father-in-law, M. Saint-Meran, my mother-in-law, Baroy, and my daughter Valentine?"

"Oh, sir!" cried Madame de Villefort, clasping her hands, "what are you talking about?"

"Now you are not here to ask me, but to answer my question!"

"To the husband, or to the judge?" stammered Madame de Villefort.

"Answer the judge, ma'am! Answer the judge!"

This woman's face was pale, her eyes were terrified, and her whole body was trembling. Anyone who saw her would be horrified. "Ah, sir!" she murmured, "Ah, sir!" and those were all she could say.

"You have not answered, madame!" cried Villefort, approaching with terror.Then, a smile more terrifying than his scowl flashed across his face and said, "As expected, you dare not deny it!"

She was startled.

"Nor can you deny," continued Villefort, putting out his hand towards her, as if to arrest her by law, "that you have committed one after another in your shameful tricks. A crime, but your tricks can only fool those who are not impressed by your feelings. After the death of Madame de Saint-Meran, I knew that someone in my family was deliberately poisoned, and Mr. Avrini reminded me. After the death of Barois, I suspected one person, an angel! God forgive me! For a while, though nothing happened, I always felt in my heart that the family was suspicious. But after Valentine's death, I am fully aware, ma'am, not only of myself, but of others. Therefore, your crime, now known to two and suspected by several, will soon be revealed to the world. I have just You have made it clear, Madame, that it is not the husband who is speaking to you, but the judge!"

Young woman covers her face with her hands. "Oh, sir!" she stammered, "I beg you not to believe appearances!"

"Are you frightened?" cried Villefort, in a tone of extreme contempt. "Yes, I have seen that poisoners are greedy for life and fear of death. You had the guts to confront two old men, an old man. The girl was murdered, and she watched them die tragically in front of your eyes without fear, why are you afraid now?"

"Sir! Sir!"

"At the beginning," said Villefort with increasing indignation, "you calculated the minutes of the four men's dying moments, you worked out your insane plans, you prepared your murderous poison, You are so shrewd and precise, why are you afraid now? Since you are so meticulous and calculating, have you forgotten to calculate what will happen to you if the crime is exposed? Oh! You It is impossible to imagine that in order to escape the punishment you deserve, you must have reserved some kind of poison for yourself, which is sweeter, faster and more poisonous than the poisons you used to harm people... I can at least think that, You always keep a hand for yourself, right?"

Madame de Villefort clasped her hands together and fell to her knees with a plop.

"I know . . . I know," said Villefort, "you plead guilty, but you plead guilty to the judge, and at the last moment, if you cannot deny it, the judge will never reduce the punishment of the criminal for this confession!"

"Punishment!" cried Madame de Villefort. "Punishment! You have said it twice, sir?"

"Yes. Do you think you can get away with it after four successful crimes? Do you think it's not up to you when the power of punishment is in your husband's hands? No! Madame, no! A woman was poisoned to death No matter who she is, the guillotine is waiting for her, unless, as I have made it clear to you just now, unless this woman thinks of leaving a few drops of the most poisonous poison for herself when she commits the crime."

Madame de Villefort let out a scream, she was lost, and her face was devastated.

"Ah! don't worry about the guillotine, ma'am," said the judge; "I don't want to discredit you, as it would be discrediting my own, no, on the contrary, if you will hear me, you will understand, you Not to die on the guillotine."

"No, I don't understand, what do you mean by that?" stammered the poor woman, completely bewildered.

"I mean, the wife of the chief justice of the capital, despite her shameful crimes, should not tarnish a flawless surname, and she should not tarnish the honor of her husband and her children."

"No! Oh, no!"

"Very well, ma'am! It will be a good thing for you to do, and I shall thank you."

"You thank me? Why?"

"For what you just said."

"What did I say? I'm so bewildered, I don't understand anything, my God! My God!" She stood up, her hair was disheveled, and her lips were foaming.

"You have answered the question I posed when I came in, madam, and I asked it thus: 'Where do you keep your usual poisons, madam?'"

Madame de Villefort raised her arms towards the sky, and clasped her hands convulsively. "No, no," she cried hoarsely, "no, that was not your intention!"

"It was not my intention that you should die on the guillotine, madame, do you understand?" said Villefort.

"Oh, sir, have mercy."

"It is my pursuit that justice must be done, and that I live in this world to punish the wicked," continued Villefort, his eyes blazing, "and to other women, even the queen, I will To the executioner, but to you I will be merciful. To you I say this: Didn't you keep for yourself a few drops of the sweetest, quickest, most poisonous poison?"

"Oh! forgive me, sir, and spare me my life!"

"She is so spineless!" said Villefort to himself.

"You must think that I am your wife!"

"You are a poisoned woman!"

"For heaven's sake..."

"No!"

"For the love you gave me..."

"no no!"

"For our children's sake! Ah! Save my life for our children's sake!"

"No, no, no! Let me tell you, I spare your life today, maybe one day you will poison our children like those people."

"Me? Poison my own son?" The frantic mother rushed to Villefort and shouted, "Me? Poison my Edward... Ha! Ha!" The laughter was like a devil laughing, like a crazy woman laughing wildly, and then the laughter was lost in the whimpering sobbing.

Madame de Villefort knelt at her husband's feet.

Villefort took a step towards her. "Just think, ma'am," said he, "that if, when I return, justice is not done, I will denounce you and arrest you myself."

She pricked up her ears and listened, panting heavily, she was as dead as a tree and lost all thoughts, only her eyes were still a little alive, and there was a ray of frightening flames indistinctly.

"Did you hear me?" said Villefort, "and now I am going to prosecute a murderer and ask the court to impose the death penalty... If you are alive when I return, you will have to go to the court this evening. Subsidiary prison for the night."

Madame de Villefort let out a sigh, and the tense nerves all over her body suddenly relaxed, and she collapsed on the carpet.The prosecutor seemed to have moved his heart of compassion, and bowed slightly to her, his eyes were not so fierce. "Farewell, ma'am," he said slowly, "farewell!"

This "farewell" fell on Madame de Villefort like a murderous sharp knife.She passed out.The prosecutor walked out of the room, closed the door casually, turned the lock twice, and locked the door tightly.

(End of this chapter)