World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 203 Redemption (1)
M. de Villefort saw the packed crowd make a way before him.Huge trauma and pain always make people awe-inspiring, even in those darkest times, without exception, as long as people gather together, as long as they see catastrophe, people's first reaction is to pity and sympathize.Many despicable people died in the riots, but an unfortunate man, even a sinner, was seldom humiliated by all when they saw him sinking step by step to death.Villefort had pleaded guilty, ecstasy, but pain protected him, and he left the courthouse through a wall of policemen, judges, and spectators.

Sometimes, a person's feeling is just an instinct, and he will not use reason to analyze what he sees and hears.Whoever can utter the strongest and purest roar at such times is the greatest poet.Everyone else would have taken the growl as an outpouring of all their feelings, and one had reason to be satisfied.If this roar is sincere, then people have more reason to think that this roar is magnificent.

However, Villefort walked out of the court with a distraught look that cannot be described in words. He was frightened and agitated, every artery was pounding, every nerve was tense, and every blood vessel was swollen to burst. Open, the whole body is full of pain and suffering like suffering, and all these are extremely difficult to describe one by one.He walked with difficulty, and walked slowly along the corridor just out of habit. He tore off the judge's robe from his shoulders. Wearing the robe on his shoulders became an unbearable burden, and it became the Nessus robe (a half-man, half-horse monster in ancient Greek mythology, which Heracle, the god of strength, tricked him into wearing with this monster) The big robe soaked in poisonous blood was extremely painful, so he jumped into the raging fire and was burned to death.).He staggered to the Place du Dauphine, found his carriage, and opened the door himself, waking the coachman, who collapsed on the cushions as soon as he got into the carriage, and held out only one finger in pilgrimage to Saint-Honoré. Pointing in the direction, the driver immediately drove forward.

Once again he felt that bad luck had come upon him, he had already been beaten to the ground, and he didn't know what the consequences would be in the future.He couldn't measure how serious the consequences were, but he did feel the consequences.If a ruthless murderer scrutinizes a letter of law that he knows, Villefort was in such a daze that he could not even recall his code.All he thought of was God. "God!" he murmured, not knowing what he was talking about, "God! God!" Behind this innocent disaster he saw only God.

The carriage was galloping, and Villefort was bouncing up and down on the cushion. He felt that something was pressing against him, so he stretched out his hand to feel it. It turned out that it was a fan sandwiched between the backrest and the cushion, which Madame Villefort forgot to take away.Like a flash of lightning in the dark night, the fan suddenly awakened his memory.Villefort suddenly thought of his wife...

"Oh!" he cried, as if a red-hot iron had pierced his heart.During the hour when he had seen only his own misfortune, another equally terrible misfortune appeared in his mind.This woman he had just ruthlessly interrogated and sentenced to death; She is ashamed of herself and has no place to be ashamed; this poor weak woman, facing this tyrannical and supreme power, she is powerless to resist self-defense, perhaps at this time she is preparing to die!An hour had passed since her conviction, and she must have been thinking of all the crimes she had committed, and begging God for forgiveness, and writing to her righteous husband for the forgiveness she could only get by dying. forgive.Villefort gave another roar of grief.

"Ah!" he shouted, rubbing his hands and feet on the satin cushion of the carriage in a hurry, "this woman committed crimes only because she married me and became a family. I was the one who emitted the criminal germs. She seemed to be infected with typhoid fever." , to cholera, to the plague of crime! And yet I will punish her! How dare I say to her: 'Repent and die', and I say so! Oh! No! No! She deserves to live... She should go with me... We can both go far, far away from France, as long as there is a road on earth, we will go straight. And I said to her about the guillotine! Great God! How can I Would be so arrogant to say such a thing! But am I not the same, the guillotine is waiting for me! We have to go far away... Yes, I will confess to her, yes, I will scold myself every day of the month , must tell her, I am also a sinful person... Oh! A fierce tiger deserves a poisonous snake! Oh! A husband like me should have such a wife! She deserves to live, and my shame should cover up her shame!"

Villefort was impatient to open the front window—he threw himself on it and pushed it down instead of slowly lowering it as usual. "Hurry up, hurry up!" he yelled so suddenly that the coachman jumped up from his seat.The terrified shaft horse drove towards the mansion like lightning.

"Yes, yes," said Villefort, watching the carriage gradually approaching the mansion, "yes, this woman deserves to live, she deserves to repent, she deserves to raise my child." Son. Poor child. When the family was ruined, he and the old man with great vitality survived. She loved this child, and it was for this child that she did this kind of thing. A mother only needs to love Your own child, you should not be disappointed in her heart. She will repent, and no one will know that she is guilty. These crimes were committed in my family. Just forget about it. If those enemies still refuse to let go, okay! I’ll come and deal with them. What’s the point of killing one more, two, or three more? My wife can leave and let She took Xiruan away, especially her son. They should stay far away from this abyss. I think the world will die with me and fall into this abyss together. She should live, and she will be very happy, Because she loves her son wholeheartedly, because the son will never be separated from her. I also count it as a good deed, and I feel at ease."

At this time, the prosecutor's breathing became more comfortable, and the breath that had been held in his chest for a long time was finally relieved.The carriage stopped in the vestibule of the mansion, and Villefort jumped from the running board of the carriage to the steps in front of the door. He saw that the faces of the servants were surprised to see him come back so soon, but otherwise There was no expression on their faces.No one spoke to him, and as usual, the servants stopped to make way for him when they saw him approaching, without any other indication.He walked past Noirquier's room, and through the half-hidden door he vaguely saw two figures inside, but he himself was so worried that he just walked forward, and he didn't have the heart to look at the same person. Who was his father with.

"It's all right," he said, as he went up the narrow staircase leading to his wife's flat and Valentine's spare room, "it's all right, nothing happened." Up to the second floor Then he was the first to close the door on the landing. "We must not be disturbed by anyone," he said, "I want to talk to her openly, I want to confess to her, and I will tell you everything..." He walked to the door of the room and reached out to hold the crystal on the door. The glass handle, but the door opened by itself. "No lock! Oh yes, that's great!" he said softly.He went into the little parlour, where he made a bed for Edward at night, because Edward went to boarding school, but he came home every night, and his mother couldn't bear to be separated from him.Villefort glanced all over the little drawing-room. "Nobody," he said, "she must be in her bedroom." He hurried toward the bedroom door.This door is locked.He stopped in front of the door and couldn't help shivering. "Eloise!" he cried.He seemed to hear the sound of furniture being moved inside. "Eloise!" he called again.

"Who is it?" asked the person inside.

He felt that the voice inside seemed weaker than usual. "Open the door! Open the door!" cried Villefort. "It is I!"

But despite his orders, despite his anxious tone, the door would not open.Villefort kicked the door open with a sudden kick, and there stood Madame de Villefort, pale and disfigured by convulsions, with her eyes horribly fixed, standing before the door leading to the small drawing-room for the ladies. looked intently at Villefort.

"Heloise! ​​Heloise!" he said. "What's the matter with you? Talk!"

The young woman held out her stiff, pale hand to him. "It's over, sir." She gasped, her voice was hoarse, as if her throat had been torn apart by the heavy breathing, "What else do you want?" After finishing speaking, she stood up straight Plop down to the ground┨Densely charged＊

Villefort hastened to seize her hand, which still clutched in a convulsive hand a vial sealed with a gold cap.Madame de Villefort was dead.Villefort, frantic with fright, went backwards to the door, and fixed his eyes on the corpse. "Where is my son?" he cried out suddenly, "where is my son? Edward! Edward!" He hurried out of the flat, crying, "Edward! Edward!" he cried so sadly that the servant They heard the sound and ran up. "Where is my son? Where is my son?" asked Villefort. "Take him away from this building, and don't let him see..."

"Edward is not downstairs, sir," replied the valet.

"He must be playing in the garden, go and see! Go!"

"No, sir. Madame called Edward up-stairs about half an hour ago, and Edward went into Madame's room and never came down."

(End of this chapter)