Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 2).djvu/317

Rh cedes sleep. At last my eyes closed, and I lost all consciousness. I was in this unconscious state when I was aroused by the report of a pistol, followed by a fearful cry. Tottering footsteps resounded across the chamber above me, and the next instant a dull, heavy weight seemed to fall powerless on the staircase. I had not yet fully recovered my recollection, when again I heard groans, mingled with half-stifled cries, as if from persons engaged in a deadly struggle. A final cry ending in groans roused me from my lethargy. Hastily raising myself on one arm, I opened my eyes, but saw nothing in the dark, and raised my hand to my forehead, on which there seemed to be dropping through the ceiling, a warm abundant rain.

"To the noise had succeeded the most perfect silence unbroken, save by the footsteps of a man walking about in the chamber above. The man proceeded to the lower apartment, and went toward the fire to light a candle.

"It was Caderousse—his face pale, his shirt bloody. Having obtained the light, he hurried upstairs again, and once more I heard his rapid and uneasy step in the chamber above.

"Ere long he came below, holding in his hand the small shagreen case, which he opened, to assure himself it contained the diamond,—seemed to hesitate as to which pocket he should put it in, then, as if dissatisfied with the security of either pocket, he deposited it in his red handkerchief, which he carefully rolled round his head.

"After this he took from his cupboard the bank-notes and gold he had put there, thrust the one into the pocket of his trousers, and the other into that of his waistcoat, hastily tied up a small bundle of linen, and rushing toward the door, disappeared in the darkness of the night.

"Then all became clear and manifest to me; and I reproached myself with what had happened, as though I myself had done the guilty deed. I fancied that I still heard faint moans, and imagining that the unfortunate jeweler might not be quite dead, I determined to go to his relief, by way of atoning in some slight degree, not for the crime I had committed, but for that which I had not endeavored to prevent; for this purpose I applied all the strength I possessed to force an entrance from the cramped spot in which I lay to the adjoining room; the badly jointed planks yielded, and I found myself in the house. Hastily snatching up the lighted candle, I hurried to the staircase; toward the middle of it I stumbled over a corpse lying quite across the stairs. It was that of La Carconte. The pistol I had heard had been discharged at her, whose throat the ball had traversed, leaving a double wound from which, as well as the mouth, the blood was welling. She was dead, strode past her, and ascended to the sleeping-chamber, which presented