Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/60

40 of pronouncing your name aloud, that I should have passed it over, but for the fear that my so doing might create suspicions as to my silence; so I summoned up all my courage, and read it."

"Dear Valentine!"

"Well, would you believe it? directly my father caught the sound of your name he turned round quite hastily, and, like a poor silly thing, I was so persuaded that every one must be as much affected as myself by the utterance of your name, that I was not surprised to see my father tremble; but I even thought (though that surely must have been a mistake) that M. Danglars underwent a similar emotion.

"'Morrel! Morrel!' cried my father, 'stop a bit'; then, knitting his brows into a deep frown, he added, 'Surely this cannot be one of the Morrel family who lived at Marseilles, and gave us so much trouble from their being such violent Bonapartists—I mean about the year 1815.'

"'I fancy,' replied M. Danglars, 'that he is the son of the large ship owner there.'"

"Indeed!" answered Maximilian; "and what said your father then, Valentine?"

"Oh, such a dreadful thing, I dare not repeat it."

"Still!" said the young man, "say, what was it?"

"'Ah,' continued my father, still frowning severely, l their idolized emperor treated these madmen as they deserved; he called them "food for cannon," which was precisely all they were good for; and I am delighted to see that the present government have adopted this salutary principle with vigor; if Algiers were good for nothing else, I would congratulate the government, although it costs us dear.'"

"The sentiments were somewhat unfeeling," said Maximilian; "but do not blush, Valentine; for my father was not a jot behind yours in his expressions. 'Why,' said he, 'does not the emperor, who has devised so many clever things, form a regiment of lawyers, judges, and legal practitioners, sending them in the hottest fire? ' You see, Valentine, that for mildness of expression and imaginative benefits there is not much to choose between the parties. But what said M. Danglars to this burst of party spirit on the part of the procureur du roi?"

"Oh, he laughed, and in that singular manner so peculiar to him self—half-malicious, half-ferocious; he immediately rose and took his leave; then, for the first time, I observed the agitation of my grand father, and I must tell you, Maximilian, that I am the only person capable of discerning emotion in his paralyzed frame. And I suspected that the conversation that had been carried on in his presence (for no one ever cares for him, dear old man) had made a strong impression on his mind; for, naturally enough, it must have pained him to hear the emperor spoken of in that manner."