World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 5 Conspiracy
Tangra looked at Edmond and Mercedes until he saw the lovers disappear behind the corner of Fort St. Nicholas, and then turned around.He found that Fernand had collapsed on the chair, pale and trembling all over, and Caderos was stammering and singing a drinking song.

"Hey, my dear sir," Tangra said to Fernand, "I don't think everyone is happy with this marriage."

"I'm so disappointed," Fernand said.

"So you love Mercedes?"

"Love her very much."

"Have you fallen in love with her already?"

"I've loved her since we met."

"But you're just pulling your hair out here, and you don't think there's anything you can do to save it. It's awful to think that you Catalan are just like that."

"Say, what should I do?" Fernand asked.

"How do I know? Is it my business? I said, it was not I who fell in love with Mademoiselle Mercedes, but you. The Gospel says, 'Seek and you will find.'"

"I have found it."

"any solution?"

"I tried to stab the guy, but the woman told me that if anything bad happened to her fiancé, she'd kill herself."

"Bah! You can talk about this kind of thing, but you won't take it seriously."

"You don't know Mercedes, sir. If she says it, she means it."

"A fool!" Tangra whispered to himself, "It doesn't matter to me whether she commits suicide or not, as long as Dantès doesn't become the captain."

"Mercedes is going to die," Fernand continued, with an unshakable determination in his tone, "then I will die before her."

"That's called love!" said Caderousse, who was so drunk that his speech became more and more awkward. "It's called love, otherwise I wouldn't even know what love is."

"Well," Tangra said again, "I think you are a well-behaved young man. I think I should be damned. I want to give you a hand, but..."

"All right," said Cuderosse, "tell me."

"Brother," Tangla said, "you are seventy percent drunk, just drink up this bottle, and you will be completely drunk. Drink yours, don't meddle in our affairs, it's a brainstorm thing."

"I'm drunk?" Cuderos said, "Come on! Your bottle is no bigger than a bottle of toilet water. I can drink four bottles at once! Papa Bonfelle, bring the wine!" After speaking, he knocked on the table with his wine glass , proving that he is a good drinker.

"Sir, you just said..." Fernand said, he was anxiously waiting for the sentence that was interrupted just now.

"What did I say? I can't remember. Cuderos, the drunk, interrupted my train of thought."

"If you want to drink, drink it to your heart's content. If you are afraid of drinking, you deserve it. They have bad thoughts in their hearts, and they are afraid of being hooked by wine." Cuderos said, and then sang the last two lines of a song that was very popular at the time :
If you don't drink water, you will be unkind
Noah's flood has already confirmed
"Sir, just now you said," Fernand continued to ask, "you really want to help me, but you can't say anything."

"By the way, let me say, but... to give you a hand, as long as Dantès can't marry the person you love. In my opinion, this marriage is very likely to fail. Don't put Dantès put to death."

"Only death can tear them apart," Fernand said.

"You are talking nonsense, brother," said Cuderos. "This is Tangla. He is full of tricks, and he will immediately prove that your thinking is wrong. Tangla, tell him. I can tell you You are talking big. You have to explain to him clearly that Dantès did not have to die. Besides, it is a pity that he, Dantès, died. He is a good boy, and I like the young man Dantès. Dantès, Cheers to your health!"

Fernan stood up impatiently.

"Let him talk," said Tangra, and stopped Fernan casually. "Besides, although he is drunk, what he said is not completely unreasonable. Sending people away or making them die can tear apart a lover. If Edmond and Mercedes are separated by a prison wall, and they are separated, just as they are separated by a tombstone."

"Yes, but there's always time to get out," Cuderos said.He was still a little sober, and he kept listening, "The one released from the prison happened to be this Edmond Dantès, and he wanted revenge."

"What are you afraid of?" Fernan whispered.

"Besides," continued Caderos, "why put Dantès in prison? He didn't steal, he didn't kill anyone."

"Shut up!" Tangra said.

"I can't hold my tongue," said Caderos, "you must explain to me why Dantès is in jail? I like Dantès. To your health, Dantès!" And he Another drink.The tailor's eyes were dimmed, and Tangra saw that the alcohol was on the rise, so he turned around and said to Fernand:
"Well, do you understand, there is really no need to kill him."

"If, as you just said, Dantès is captured by some means, it is true that there is no need to kill him. But do you have the means?"

"There's always a way, if you look for it. But," he went on, "what the hell am I doing with this business? What's my business?"

"I don't know if this matter has anything to do with you," Fernand said, grabbing his arm, "but I know that you have some personal grudges against Dantès. If people hold grudges, they will never be misunderstood." other people's emotions."

"I hate Dantès, I? Not at all, I can swear to you. I think you are unfortunate, and your misfortune has attracted my attention, that's all. If you think I have selfish intentions, good-bye, Dear friend, you can find a way to solve it yourself." After speaking, Tang Gela pretended to stand up and leave.

"Don't go," Fernand said holding him back, "please stay! Actually, whether you hate Dantès or not has nothing to do with me, but I hate him, and I'm blunt. You can think of a way, as long as no one dies , I will do the work, because Mercedes said that if someone killed Dantès, she would kill herself."

Caderos raised his head that was already lying on the table, looked at Fernand and Tangra with dull eyes, and said, "Kill Dantès! Who said you want to kill Dantès? I won't agree to you killing him." .He is my friend, and he still lends me money this morning, just as happy as I lent him money in the past. I won’t promise you to kill him.”

"Whoever told you that he was going to kill him, you are confused!" Tangla said, "it's just a joke. Come, drink to his health!" Let's be quiet."

"Yes, yes, for the health of Dantès!" said Caderos, gulping down his drink. "Health to him! . . . Health to him! . . . Great!"

"But the way... how about it?" Fernand asked.

"Haven't you figured it out yet?"

"No, the solution is up to you."

"That's right," Tangra said. "When it comes to finding a way, the French are a step ahead of the Spaniards. The Spaniards can only think hard, but the French can invent and create."

"Then you can invent and create." Fernand said impatiently.

"Waiter," Tangla called, "please bring the pen, ink and paper."

"Pen, ink and paper!" Fernand muttered.

"By the way, I'm an accountant. Pen, ink, and paper are my tools. I can't do anything without them."

"Bring the pen, ink and paper!" Fernand also shouted.

"It's all on the table you want." The waiter pointed to the things on the table.

"Give it to us."

The waiter took the pen, ink, and paper and came and put them on the table under the awning.

"The idea of ​​killing someone with this thing," said Caderos, pressing the paper with his hand, "is safer than waiting in the corner of the woods! I have never seen pens, inks, and papers more than swords and pistols." Still scared."

"This idiot looks drunk on the outside, but he's actually not that bad." Tangra said, "Give him another drink, Fernand."

Fernand poured a full glass for Cuderosse.Cudeross was such a drunkard that he immediately let go of the paper and raised his hand to grab the glass.The Catalunian stared at Cuderos intently, until he saw that the guy really fell down after being poured like this, and when he fell, he almost dropped his wine glass on the table.Fernan could see that after drinking the last glass of wine, the last bit of Caderos' sanity began to disappear.So he said, "Is it done?"

"It's done! I mean, for example," Tangra went on, "if, like Dantès, he just came back from the sea and went to Naples and the island of Elba on the way, if someone goes to the prosecutor and tells the prosecutor that he is Napoleon." Party……"

"I'm going to report him, I'm going!" the young man said hastily.

"Yes. However, they will ask you to sign the report, and ask you to confront the person you have accused. I can provide you with the report materials, because I know the matter very well. But Dantès cannot live forever. Squatting in prison, one day he will come out. Once he comes out, woe to whoever got him in!"

"Hmph, I don't ask for anything else," Fernand said, "as long as he comes to my door and quarrels with me."

"Yes, but there is Mercedes! This Mercedes, even if you just accidentally broke the skin of her beloved Edmund, she will hate you."

"You're right," Fernand said.

"No, no," Tangra continued, "really set your minds to do this kind of thing, you see, you have to be like me now, really pick up the pen, dip it in ink, and write with your left hand. People recognized it, and a simple informant letter was written." Tangla wrote while talking, and he wrote a few lines crookedly with his left hand, which was completely unlike his usual writing, and then handed it to Fernan.Fernand read in a low voice:

Prosecutor's Taijian:

I support the royal family and love religion, and the disclosure is as follows:
There is Edmond Dantès, the first mate of the "King of Egypt", who returned to Hong Kong from Smyrna this morning, and stopped at Naples and Portoferraio on the way.This person was appointed Marshal of France by Mira, and in 1808 he was named King of Naples.He sent a letter to the rebel usurper, and was ordered by the rebel to carry a secret letter to the Napoleonic Party in Paris.

If he is arrested and brought to justice, he can obtain criminal evidence.If the secret letter is not with him, it must be in his father's house, or in the cabin of the "King of Egypt".

"Excellent," Tangla continued, "in this way, your revenge will be justified, and no matter what, you will not be chased, and the matter will be done by itself. The only thing left to do is Fold the letters like I do, and then write 'His Excellency Prosecutor', and everything will be ready." Tang La wrote the address again absent-mindedly.

"Yes, everything is ready," cried Cuderos, who had listened to the letter with the faint sobriety left of his drunkenness, and instinctively realized what misfortune such an announcement would cause. "Yes, everything is ready, it's just too low." He stretched out his arm for the letter.

"So," said Tangra, pushing the letter out of Cuderosse's reach, "so, what I just said and did was a joke. If anything happens to Dantès, the first The one who suffers is me, Dantès is a good man. So, look..." He picked up the letter, crumpled it in his hand, and threw it to a corner of the arbor.

"Very good!" said Caderos. "Dantès is my friend, and I cannot allow him to be framed."

"Hey, who the hell wants to frame him? Anyway, it's not me, and it's not Fernand either!" Tangla said and stood up, looking at the young man again.Although the young man was still sitting, his eyes were fixed on the informant letter thrown in the corner.

"In that case," continued Caderousse, "bring us wine, I must drink a few, and I wish the health of Edmond and the fair Mercedes."

"You've already drunk too much, alcoholic," Tangra said, "If you drink any more, you might not even be able to stand up, so you have to lie down here."

"Me?" Caderos said, standing up, with the air of a drunkard pretentious, "me, I can't stand? I bet I could run up to the top of the bell tower of the Argoule church without shaking! "

"Good job! All right," Tangla said, "I bet, but it's still tomorrow, I have to go back today. I'll help you, let's go."

"Come on," said Cuderosse, "but I don't need your help. Will you go, Fernand? Come back to Marseilles with us?"

"No," said Fernand, "I'm going back to the village of Catalonia."

"You're wrong, come with us to Marseilles, let's go."

"I have nothing to do when I go to Marseilles, so I won't go."

"Why are you talking like that? You don't want to go? That's fine, brother, as you like! Everyone is free. Come on, Tangra, that gentleman wants to go back to the village of Catalunya, let him go."

Taking advantage of this moment, Caderos was in a good mood, so he pulled him towards Marseille.However, in order to leave a shortcut for Fernand and open a door of convenience, he did not go from the New Shore Pier, but from the Port of Saint-Victor.Caderos took his arm and staggered after him.After walking more than 20 steps away, Tangra turned around and saw Fernan picking up the paper and stuffing it into his pocket, then rushed out of the awning, turned around and walked towards Pilong.

"Look, what's the matter with him?" said Cuderos. "He's not telling the truth. Just now he said he was going to the village of Catalonia, but now he's going to the city. Hello, Fernand." , you are going the wrong way, brother!"

"It's your own eyesight," Tang Gula said, "He took the old clinic road."

"Oh, yes!" said Cudeross. "Why, I thought he was going to the right. Really, wine is a misleading thing."

"Okay, okay," Tang La said to himself in a low voice, "I think this matter has started well, and I just wait and see what happens."

(End of this chapter)