Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/192

172 secret part played by those insect-actors simply by means of successively pulling different pieces of string.”

“And are you going there?”

“I am.”

“What telegraph do you intend visiting? that of the home department, or of the observatoire?”

“Oh, no! I shall find there people who will force me to understand things of which I would prefer to remain ignorant, and who would explain to me, in spite of myself, a mystery which even they do not understand. I should wish to keep my illusions concerning insects unimpaired; it is quite enough to have those dissipated which I had formed of my fellow-creatures. I shall, therefore, not visit either of those telegraphs, but one in the open country where I shall find a good-natured simpleton petritied in his tower.”

“You are a singular man,” said Villefort.

“What line would you advise me to study?”

“That which is most in use just at this time.”

“The Spanish one, you mean, I suppose?”

“Yes; should you like a letter to the minister that they might explain to you"

“No,” said Monte-Cristo; “since, as I told you before, I do not wish to comprehend it. The moment I understand it, there will no longer exist a telegraph for me; it will be nothing more than a sign from M. Duchatel, or from M. Montalivet, transmitted to the préfet of Bayonne, mystified by two Greek words, téle graphein. It is the insect with black claws, and the awful word which I wish to retain in my imagination in all its purity and in all its importance.”

“Go, then; for in the course of two hours it will be dark, and you will not be able to see anything.”

“Ma foi! you frighten me. Which is the nearest!”

“On the road to Bayonne?”

“Yes! On the road to Bayonne!”

“The one at Chatillon.”

“And after Chatillon?”

“The tower of Montlhéry.”

“Thank you. Good-bye. On Saturday I will tell you my impressions.”

At the door the count was met by the two notaries, who had just completed the act which was to disinherit Valentine, and who were leaving under the conviction of having done a thing which could not fail of redounding to their credit.