Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 4).djvu/92

74 "A correspondent at Janina informs us of a fact of which until now we had remained in ignorance. The castle which formed the protection of the town was given up to the Turks by a French officer named Fernand, in whom the vizier, Ali Tebelin, had reposed the greatest confidence."

"Well!" said Monte-Cristo, "what do you see in that to annoy you?"

"What do I see in it?"

"Yes; how does it concern you if the castle of Janina was given up by a French officer?"

"It concerns me that my father, the Count de Morcerf, has the Christian name of Fernand!"

"Did your father serve Ali Pacha?"

"Yes; that is to say, he fought for the independence of the Greeks, and hence arises the calumny."

"Oh, my dear viscount, do talk reason!"

"I do not desire to do otherwise."

"Now, just tell me who the devil should know in France that the officer Fernand and the Count de Morcerf are the same person? and who cares now about Janina, which was taken in 1822 or 1823?"

"That just proves the perfidy: they have allowed all this time to elapse, and then, all of a sudden, rake up events which have been forgotten, to furnish scandal, to tarnish our high position. I inherit my father's name, and I do not choose that the shadow of doubt should darken it. I am going to send my seconds to Beauchamp, in whose journal this paragraph appears, and I shall insist on his retracting it."

"Beauchamp will never retract."

"Then we must fight."

"No, you will not, for he will tell you, that perhaps there were fifty officers in the Greek army bearing the same name."

"We will fight, nevertheless. I will efface that . . . My father . . such a brave soldier, a career so brilliant"

"Oh, well, he will add, 'We are warranted in believing that this Fernand is not the Count de Morcerf, who also bears the same Christian name.'"

"I am determined not to be content with anything short of an entire retractation."

"And you intend to send your seconds?"

"Yes."

"You do wrong."

"Which means, I suppose, that you refuse the service which I asked of you?"