Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 4).djvu/196

 Albert felt his heart bursting at these particulars, but gratitude mingled with his sorrow; he would gladly have embraced those who had given his father this proof of esteem at a moment when his honor was so powerfully attacked.

"At this moment one of the door-keepers brought in a letter for the president. 'You are at liberty to speak, M. de Morcerf,' said the president, as he unsealed the letter; and the count began his defense, I assure you, Albert, in a most eloquent and skillful manner. He produced documents, proving that the Vizier of Janina had, to the last moment, honored him with his entire confidence, since he had intrusted him with a negotiation of life and death with the sultan. He produced the ring, his mark of authority, with which Ali Pacha generally sealed his letters, and which the latter had given to him that he might, on his return at any hour of the day or night, were he even in his harem, gain access to him. Unfortunately, the negotiation failed, and when he returned to defend his benefactor, he was dead. 'But,' said the count, 'so great was Ali Pacha's confidence, that on his death-bed, he confided his favorite mistress and her daughter to my care.'"

Albert started on hearing these words; the history of Haydée recurred to him, and he remembered what she had said of that message and the ring, and the manner in which she had been sold and made a slave.

"And what effect did this discourse produce?" anxiously inquired Albert.

"I acknowledge it affected me, and, indeed, all the committee also," said Beauchamp.

"Meanwhile, the president carelessly opened the letter which had been brought to him; but the first lines aroused his attention. He read them again and again, and fixing his eyes on M. de Morcerf: 'M. le Comte,' said he, 'you have said the Vizier of Janina had confided his wife and daughter to your care?'—'Yes, sir,' replied Morcerf, 'but in that, like all the rest, misfortune pursued me; on my return, Vasiliki and her daughter Haydée had disappeared.'—'Did you know them?'—'My intimacy with the pacha and his unlimited confidence had gained me an introduction to them, and I had seen them above twenty times.'—'Have you any idea what is become of them?'—'Yes, sir; I heard they had fallen victims to their sorrow, and, perhaps, to their poverty. I was not rich; my life was in constant danger; I could not seek them, to my great regret.' The president frowned imperceptibly. 'Gentlemen,' said he, 'you have heard M. le Comte de Morcerf's defense. Can you, M. le Comte, produce any witnesses to the truth of what you have asserted?'—' Alas! no, sir,' replied the count, 'all those who surrounded