Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 5).djvu/177

Rh "Ah, now I think of it, the Count of Monte-Cristo cannot appear in the hall!" said Beauchamp.

"Why not?"

"Because he is an actor in the drama."

"Has he assassinated any one, then?"

"No, on the contrary, they wished to assassinate him. You know that it was on leaving his house that M. de Caderousse was murdered by his friend Benedetto. You know that the famous waistcoat was found in his house, containing the letter which stopped the signature of the marriage-contract. Do you see the waistcoat? There it is, all blood-stained, on the desk, as a testimony of the crime."

"Ah, very good."

"Hush, gentlemen! here is the court; let us go back to our places."

A noise was heard in the hall; the sergent-de-ville called his two protégés with an energetic "Hem!" and the door-keeper appearing, called out, with that shrill voice peculiar to his order, even in the days of Beaumarchais:

"The court, gentlemen!"