Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 3).djvu/98

78 "No, thank you. Your orchestra is too noisy. For the sleep I have mentioned, calm and silence are necessary; a certain preparation must also"

"I know—the famous hashish!"

"Precisely. My dear viscount, come and sup with me whenever you wish to hear music."

"I have already enjoyed that treat when breakfasting with you," said Morcerf.

"Do you mean at Rome?"

"I do."

"Ah, you heard Haydée's guzla; the poor exile frequently beguiles a weary hour in playing over to me the airs of her native land."

Morcerf did not pursue the subject, and Monte-Cristo himself fell into a reverie.

The bell rang at this moment for the rising of the curtain.

"You will excuse my leaving you," said the count, turning in the direction of his box.

"What! are you going?"

"Pray, say everything that is kind to Countess G on the part of her friend the vampire."

"And what to the baroness?"

"That, with her permission, I propose doing myself the honor of paying my respects in the course of the evening."

The third act had now commenced; and during its progress the Count de Morcerf, according to promise, made his appearance in the box of Madame Danglars. The Count de Morcerf was not one of those persons whose aspect would create curiosity in a place of public amusement; his presence, therefore, was wholly unnoticed, save by the occupants of the box in which he had just seated himself.

Monte-Cristo, however, marked his coming, and a slight smile passed over his lips. Haydée, whose soul seemed centered in the business of the stage, like all unsophisticated natures, delighted in whatever addressed itself to the eye or ear.

The third act passed off as usual. Mesdemoiselles Noblet, Julie, and Leroux executed the customary quantity of pirouettes; Robert duly challenged the Prince of Granada; and the royal parent of the Princess Isabella, taking his daughter by the hand, swept round the stage to display his velvet robe.

After which the curtain again fell, and the spectators poured forth from the theater into the lobbies and salon. The count also, quitting his, proceeded at once to the box of Madame Danglars, who could scarcely restrain a cry of mingled pleasure and surprise.