Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/315

Rh Where is Valentine, sir? It is on her account I am here; I wish to see Valentine." Villefort thought it would be terrible to reply that Valentine was at a ball; so he only said that she had gone out with her step-mother, and. that she should be fetched. "This instant, sir—this instant, I beseech

you!" said the old lady. Villefort placed the arm of Madame de Saint-Méran within his own, and conducted her to his apartment.

"Rest yourself, mother," he said. .

The marchioness raised her head at this word, and beholding the man who so forcibly reminded her of her deeply regretted child, who still