World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 201 The Court
The Benededo case caused such a stir that both the court and the social circle simply referred to his case as the Benededo case.This fake Cavalier Conti swaggered through the streets in Paris, and he was brilliant for two or three months. He was not only a frequent visitor to Parisian cafes, but also often appeared on Boulevard Ghent and the Bois de Boulogne, so he made a lot of acquaintances.The accused man was reported in various newspapers, at various times in society and in convict prisons, among readers, especially among those who had been with Andra Kava. Great curiosity was aroused among those with whom Prince Le Conti had been associated, so they all decided to go and see Mr. Benededo sitting in the dock anyway, and they wanted to know when he killed him. What happened to the prisoner who was chained with him in the convict prison?

Many see Benededo as, if not a victim of the law, at least a lapse in it.The old Mr. Cavalle-Conti had been seen by many people the last time he was in Paris, and it was supposed that he would come to Paris again to claim his famous and precious son.Many people have never heard that when he went to the residence of the Count of Monte Cristo, he wore a nondescript straight-necked long dress, so in everyone's impression, this is a gentleman who is dignified, has a gentlemanly spirit, and knows how to live in the world. Daoist old aristocrat.But, to be fair, if the old Cavalle-Conti does not speak, if he does not preoccupy his accounts, he has the air of a lord.As for the defendant himself, many still remember him so amiably, so dignifiedly, and so generously, when they met him, that they felt that it was more like a conspiracy concocted by some enemy.In our world today, conspiracies are common. As long as the family has a lot of money, no matter whether it is evil or good, it can do amazing things, and the energy is unprecedented.

On this day, the court trial was held, and everyone rushed to attend the hearing, some to watch the excitement, and some wanted to comment.At 7 o'clock in the morning, people lined up in front of the iron gate of the court waiting to enter. An hour before the court session, the hall was already full of people who had priority to enter with privileges.On important days, before the judges take their seats, and often after they take their seats, the court hall is almost like a living room.Many people are acquaintances who know each other. If their seats are relatively close to each other, they all sit in their seats and talk loudly. greet.

Although it was already autumn, the sun was shining on this day, as if to compensate for the too cool or too short summer.What Villefort saw in the morning, the few wisps of clouds blocking the morning sun had already disappeared without anyone noticing, and the golden sun shone brightly and warmly in the sky at the end of September.Beauchamp, a reporter, is the uncrowned king, and his "throne" can be found everywhere. At this time, he was looking around looking for someone.He saw a policeman on duty taking good care of Chateau-Renaud and Debray. He should have stood in front of them, but in order not to block them, he actually agreed to stand behind them.The venerable policeman had already detected the minister's secretary and the millionaire next to him. He paid respect to these two noble young men, and even promised that when they left their seats to greet Beauchamp, Look out for seats for them.

"Okay!" Beauchamp said, "Everyone is here to see our friend, right?"

"Oh! my God, don't you," answered Debray, "that's a great prince! To hell with all those Italian princes!"

"This person's family tree was written by Dante, and it can be found in "Divine Comedy"!"

"A heinous nobleman." Chateau-Leno said coldly.

"He's going to be sentenced to death, isn't he?" Debray asked Beauchamp.

"Oh! My dear friend," the reporter replied, "I think I have to ask you. You know the weather in the government better than we do. Did you meet the president at the evening party held by your minister recently?"

"seen."

"What did he say to you?"

"His words will surprise you."

"Ah! Tell me now, my dear friend, I have not heard such news for a long time."

"Well! He told me that Benedetto, who was supposed to be cunning, cunning, and daring, was nothing more than a very lowly liar, and so badly crafted, that he was not worth it when he died. Some phrenological study of his brain."

"Ah!" said Beauchamp, "but he pretended to be the prince like that."

"You think so, Beauchamp, because you hate these hapless princes and take pleasure in seeing them make a fool of yourself, but I don't. I can smell a man's gentlemanly temperament by instinct. I can search for Like the heraldic hounds, through the ever-changing appearance, you can find out whether a family is a noble family."

"So you don't believe that he really has the title of prince at all?"

"His princely title? I believe it... As for his princely demeanor? I don't believe it."

"That's true," said Debray, "but I can assure you that everyone but you has been taken in by him. . . . I have seen him in the palaces of our ministers."

"Ah! Yes," said Chateau-Renoir, "this time, your ministers have a deep understanding of the prince!"

"That's a good sentence of yours, Chateau-Renoir," said Beauchamp, laughing. "It's short, but it's very interesting. I think you'll allow me to quote it in my report."

"Quote, my dear Monsieur Beauchamp," said Chateau-Renoir, "quote, since there is something useful in this sentence, I will give it to you."

"But," said Debray to Beauchamp, "I have talked to the president of the judge, and you must have talked to the prosecutor?"

"How is it possible? It is only natural that M. de Villefort has been shut up for a week. The series of sorrows in his family are inexplicable enough, and now they are added to the inexplicable death of his daughter."

"Dead for no reason? What do you mean, Beauchamp?"

"Oh! Yes, just pretend not to know. The reason can be said that this is a matter of the bureaucratic and aristocratic mansion." Beauchamp said, putting his pince-nez on the bridge of his nose and pushing it up vigorously, I want to clip my glasses.

"My dear Monsieur," said Chateau-Renoir, "permit me to tell you that you are not as good as Debray in those pince-nez. Debray, teach M. Beauchamp how to wear them."

"Well," said Beauchamp, "I can't be mistaken."

"what's up?"

"is her."

"Who?"

"They say she's gone."

"Mademoiselle Eugenie?" asked Chateau-Renoir, "is she back again?"

"No, it's her mother."

"Madame Tanglar?"

"How can it be!" Chateau-Renaud said, "It's impossible, her daughter has only run away from home for 10 days, and her husband has only been bankrupt for three days, and she will come!"

A faint blush appeared on Debray's face, and he looked in the direction Beauchamp was looking. said he, "this woman is veiled, and she cannot be recognized as a lady. It may be some foreign princess, or the mother of Prince Cavalleconti. However, what you just said, or Say what you are about to say, Beauchamp, and I find it interesting."

"I?"

"Yes, you said just now that Valentine died inexplicably."

"Ah! Yes, that is so. But why is Madame de Villefort not here?"

"Poor, philanthropic woman!" said Debray, "she may be busy making some melissa for the poorhouse again, or making up some beauty potion for herself and her friends. You know, I heard Said she spends two or three thousand crowns a year on this amusement. You are right, why is Madame de Villefort not here? I shall be glad to see her, I like this woman very much."

"And I," said Chateau-Renoir, "I hate her."

"why?"

"Don't know. Why do we like this? Why do we hate that? I hate her because I annoy her."

"Let's put it this way, out of instinct."

"Maybe... Let's go back to what you just said, Beauchamp."

"Okay!" Beauchamp continued, "You two, aren't you very curious to know why there are so many dead people in Villefort's house?"

"It's a disaster, that's a good point," said Chateau-Renoir.

"My dear friend, this is the French writer Saint-Simon (1675-1755), who wrote the "Memoirs" describing the court life of Louis XIV. The words in the book."

"But it happened at M. de Villefort's house, but let's get down to business."

"Yes!" said Debray, "to tell the truth, I have been following this family with my eyes fixed, and for three months the mourning has been hung, and Madame was talking about it to me the day before yesterday when I was talking about Valentine."

"Which lady?" asked Chateau-Renoir.

"Of course it's the chancellor's wife!"

"Ah! I'm sorry," Chateau-Renoir said, "I don't visit the ministers at home, and I leave this kind of good thing to those princes."

"You were only handsome, but now you are radiant, Baron, have pity on us, or you will be another Jupiter and burn us alive."

"I won't say anything," said Chateau-Renaud, "but, really, you must have mercy on me, and don't throw the word at me like that."

"Okay, let's finish our topic, Beauchamp, just now I said that my wife asked me about this situation the day before yesterday, so you can tell me so that I can tell her."

"Well, gentlemen, the reason why the house of Villefort is full of dead people - I will use this word, is because there is a murderer in the family!"

Both Debray and Chateau-Renoir shuddered, for more than once this thought had passed through their minds. "Who is the murderer?" The two asked in unison.

"Edward, little fellow."

The two couldn't help laughing when they heard this, but Beauchamp didn't show any embarrassment, and he continued: "Yes, you two, Edward is very different from other children. He can be said to have killed people." It's grown up."

"Are you joking?"

"Absolutely not. Yesterday I had a servant who was at M. de Villefort's. Listen carefully."

"We're listening."

"Tomorrow I'm going to fire this guy, because he's too scared to eat over there, but he's going to eat a lot when he comes here, trying to make up for the loss. Well, that's the thing, it seems that this little guy When the baby got a bottle of fake medicine, he would show it to people who didn't like it from time to time. The first thing he didn't like was Grandpa and Grandma Saint-Méran, so he gave his bottle of medicine to They poured three drops. Then came the honest Barois, the old servant of Grandpa Noirquier, who used to reprimand the sweet little rascal you know, so the dear rascal took his Three drops were poured on Barois. So at last it was poor Valentine's turn. Valentine would not reprimand her brother, but the little fellow was jealous of his sister, so she poured three drops on her too. , Valentine is as finished as the others."

"What story are you telling us, you nonsense?" Chateau-Renaud said.

"Really," said Beauchamp, "this is a story from another world, isn't it?"

"It's just out of thin air," Debray said.

"Ah!" Beauchamp went on to say, "If you don't believe it, let it be. What reason are you looking for? Damn it! You can ask my servant, or the person who will not be my servant tomorrow, the servant of that family at that time." That's what they all said."

"But where is the potion? What kind of potion is it?"

"My God! The kid hid it."

"Where did he find it?"

"From his mother's laboratory."

"So there was poison in her mother's laboratory?"

"How would I know? You asked me the question like a prosecutor. That's what I heard. I didn't say a word. I told you whoever sued me. I have nothing else. Let me tell you two, that poor bastard was too frightened to even eat anything."

"It's incredible."

"No, my dear friend, there is nothing inconceivable about it. You know what happened last year to that boy in the Rue Richelieu, who put pins in the ears of his brothers and sisters while they were asleep, and put them all in Killed. The generation below us matures early, my dear friend."

"My dear friend," said Chateau-Renaud, "I'll bet you don't believe a word of this kind of story when you tell us, don't you? I haven't seen the Count of Monte Cristo, why hasn't he?" Come?"

"He's not interested in that kind of thing," said Debray, "and he doesn't want to be seen in public, and those two Cavalcanti duped him too, and when they went to see him, they seemed to have a promissory note. It was fake, and the title of Prince took away 10,000+ francs from him."

"By the way, Monsieur Chateau-Renoir," said Beauchamp, "what is the matter with Morrel?"

"Hey," Beauchamp replied, "I've been to his house three times to look for him, and this Morrel is always away. But I saw that his sister didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, and she said to me with a smile that she also had two or three She hasn't seen her brother since, and says she's sure Morrel will be all right."

"Ah! I remember! The Count of Monte Cristo cannot be here," said Beauchamp.

"why?"

"Because he's an actor in the play."

"Has he murdered someone, too?" asked Debray.

"That's not true. On the contrary, they wanted to assassinate him. You all know that the kind Mr. Cudeross was killed by his little friend Benedetto when he escaped from the Earl's apartment. We all know that the great vest was found in the earl's apartment, and the marriage contract was not signed because of the smashed letter in the vest. Have you seen this extraordinary vest? This blood-stained one is just It's on that table, it's a piece of physical evidence."

"Ah! That's right."

"Hush! You two, the court session is over, let's go back to our seats!"

Sure enough, there was a commotion in the hall at this time, and the policeman on duty yelled at Debray and Chateau-Renaud, calling them over, and the bailiff went to the door of the deliberation hall, using the kind of A piercing shriek, long since Marshall's day, cried: "Gentlemen, now is the court!"

(End of this chapter)