Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 1).djvu/160

140 parte accused him of moderation—but sufficiently influential to make a demand; and this demand, as may be divined, was in favor of Dantès.

Villefort retained his place in spite of the fall of his superior, but his marriage was put off until a more favorable opportunity. If the emperor remained on the throne, Gérard required a different alliance to aid his career, and his father undertook to find it; if Louis XVIII. returned, the influence of M. Saint-Méran and himself became double, and the marriage must be still more suitable. The deputy procureur was, therefore, the first magistrate of Marseilles, when one morning his door opened, and M. Morrel was announced.

Any one else would have hastened to receive him and revealed his weakness; but Villefort was a man of ability, who, if he had not the experience, had the instinct for everything. He made Morrel wait in the antechamber, although he had no one with him, for the simple reason that the king’s procureur always makes every one wait; and after a quarter of an hour had passed in reading the papers, he ordered Morrel to be admitted.

Morrel expected Villefort would be dejected; he found him, as he had found him six weeks before, calm, firm, and full of that glacial politeness, that most insurmountable barrier, which separates the well-bred and the vulgar man.

He had penetrated into Villefort’s cabinet, convinced the magistrate would tremble at the sight of him; on the contrary, he felt a cold shudder all over him when he beheld Villefort seated, his elbow on his desk, and his head leaning on his hand. He stopped at the door; Villefort gazed at him as if he had some difficulty in recognizing him; then, after a brief interval, during which the honest shipowner turned and turned his hat in his hands,

“M. Morrel, I believe?” said Villefort.

“Yes, sir.”

“Come nearer,” said the magistrate, with a patronizing wave of the hand, "and tell me to what circumstance I owe the honor of this visit.”

“Do you not guess, monsieur?” asked Morrel.

“Not in the least; but, if I can serve you in any way, I shall be delighted."

“Everything depends on you.”

“Explain yourself, pray.”

“Monsieur,” said Morrel, recovering his assurance as he proceeded, encouraged by the justice of his cause, “do you recollect that a few days before the landing of his majesty the emperor, I came to intercede for an unfortunate young man, the mate of my ship, who was accused of being concerned in a correspondence with the isle of Elba? and what