Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/162

 

E will now relate what was passing in the house of the procureur du roi after the departure of Madame Danglars and her daughter, and during the time of the conversation between Maximilian and Valentine, which we have just detailed.

Villefort entered his father’s room, followed by Madame de Villefort. Both of the visitors, after saluting the old man and speaking to Barrois, a faithful servant, who had been twenty-five years in his service, took their places on each side of the paralytic old man.

Noirtier was sitting in an arm-chair, which moved upon castors, in which he was placed in the morning, and from which he was carried at night, before a large glass, which reflected the whole apartment, and permitted him to see, without any attempt to move, which would have been impossible, all who entered the room, and everything which was going on around him. Noirtier, although almost as immovable and helpless as a corpse, looked at the new-comers with a quick and intelligent expression, perceiving at once, by their ceremonious courtesy, that they were come on business of an unexpected and official character.

Sight and hearing were the only senses remaining, and they appeared left, like two solitary sparks, to animate the body which seemed fit for nothing but the grave; it was only, however, by means of one of these senses that he could reveal the thoughts and feelings which still worked in his mind, and the look by which he gave expression to this inner life resembled one of those distant lights which are sometimes seen by the benighted traveler whilst crossing some desert, apprising him that there is still one human being who, like himself, is keeping watch amidst the silence and obscurity of night.

Noirtier’s hair was long and white, and flowed over his shoulders; whilst in his eyes, shaded by thick, black lashes, was concentrated, as it