Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/163

Rh often happens with any organ which is used to the exclusion of the others, all the activity, address, force, and intelligence which were formerly diffused over his whole body; certainly, the movement of the arm, the sound of the voice, and the agility of the body were wanting; but the speaking eye sufficed for all. He commanded with it; it was the medium through which his thanks were conveyed.

In short, he was a corpse with living eyes; and nothing could be more startling than to observe the expression of anger or joy lighting up these marble-like features. Three persons only could understand this language of the poor paralytic: these were Villefort, Valentine, and the old servant of whom we have already spoken.

But as Villefort saw his father but seldom, and then only when absolutely obliged, and as he never took any pains to please or gratify him when he was there, all the old man's happiness was centered in his granddaughter; Valentine, by means of her love, her patience, and her devotion, had learned to read in Noirtier's look all the varied feelings which were passing in his mind. To this dumb language, which was so unintelligible to others, she answered by throwing her whole soul into the expression of the countenance, and in this manner were the conversations sustained between the blooming girl and form of clay, almost dust, who, nevertheless, possessed knowledge and penetration, united with a will as powerful as ever, although clogged by a body rendered utterly incapable of obeying its impulses. Valentine had resolved this strange problem, and was able easily to understand his thoughts, and to convey her own in return; and, by her untiring and devoted assiduity, it was seldom that, in the ordinary transactions of every-day life, she failed to anticipate the wishes of the living mind or the wants of the almost inanimate body.

As to the servant, he had, as we have said, been with his master for five-and-twenty years; therefore he knew all his habits, and it was seldom that Noirtier found it necessary to ask for anything, so prompt was he in administering to all the necessities of the invalid.

Villefort did not need the help of either Valentine or the domestic in order to carry on with his father the strange conversation which he was about to begin. As we have said, he perfectly understood the old man's vocabulary; and if he did not use it more often, it was only indifference and ennui which prevented him from so doing. He therefore allowed Valentine to go into the garden, sent away Barrois, and after having taken a place on the right hand of his father, whilst Madame de Villefort seated herself on the left, he addressed him thus:

"I trust you will not be displeased, sir, that Valentine has not come with us, or that I dismissed Barrois, for our conference will be one