Free The Count of Monte Cristo (Unabridged Penguin) by Alexandre Dumas Page A

house and tomorrow or, at the latest, the day after, we shall have the engagement dinner here at La Réserve. I hope that my friends will join us: you, of course, are invited, Monsieur Danglars, and you, too, Caderousse.’
    ‘And Fernand?’ Caderousse asked, with a coarse laugh. ‘Will Fernand be there as well?’
    ‘My wife’s brother is my brother,’ Edmond said, ‘and both Mercédès and I should regret it deeply if he were to be separated from us at such a time.’
    Fernand opened his mouth to reply, but his voice caught in his throat and he could not utter a single word.
    ‘The agreement today, the engagement tomorrow or the day after: by George! You’re in a great hurry, Captain.’
    ‘Danglars,’ Edmond said with a smile, ‘I shall say the same to you as Mercédès did a moment ago: don’t give me a title that does not yet belong to me, it could bring me ill luck.’
    ‘My apologies,’ Danglars replied. ‘I was merely saying that you seem in a great hurry. After all, we have plenty of time: the
Pharaon
will not set sail for a good three months.’
    ‘One always hurries towards happiness, Monsieur Danglars, because when one has suffered much, one is at pains to believe in it. But I am not impelled by mere selfishness. I have to go to Paris.’
    ‘Ah, indeed! To Paris. And will this be your first visit, Dantès?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘You have business there?’
    ‘Not of my own, but a final request that I must carry out for our poor Captain Leclère. You understand, Danglars, the mission is sacred to me. In any event, don’t worry. I shall be gone only as long as it takes to go there and return.’
    ‘Yes, yes, I understand,’ Danglars said aloud; then he added,under his breath: ‘To Paris, no doubt to deliver the letter that the marshal gave him. By heaven! That letter has given me an idea – an excellent idea! Ah, Dantès, my friend, your name is not yet Number One on the register of the
Pharaon
.’
    Then, turning back to Edmond who was leaving, he shouted: ‘
Bon voyage!
’
    ‘Thank you,’ Edmond replied, turning around and giving a friendly wave. Then the two lovers went on their way, calm and happy as two chosen souls heading for paradise.

IV
THE PLOT

    Danglars’ eyes followed Edmond and Mercédès until the two lovers had vanished round one corner of the Fort Saint-Nicholas; then, turning at last, he noticed Fernand who had slipped back on to his chair, pale and trembling, while Caderousse was mumbling the words of a drinking song.
    ‘So, my good sir,’ Danglars told Fernand, ‘not everyone, I think, is happy about this marriage.’
    ‘I am in despair,’ said Fernand.
    ‘You’re in love with Mercédès?’
    ‘I adore her!’
    ‘For a long time?’
    ‘Ever since I’ve known her; I’ve always loved her.’
    ‘And all you can do is sit there and tear your hair out, instead of finding some way out of the dilemma! By God! I didn’t know that this was how people of your country behaved.’
    ‘What do you expect me to do?’ Fernand asked.
    ‘How do I know? Is it any of my business? As I see it, I’m not the one who’s in love with Mademoiselle Mercédès; you are. Seek and ye shall find, the Gospel says.’
    ‘I had found already.’
    ‘What?’
    ‘I wanted to put my knife into the creature, but the girl said that if her fiancé was harmed, she would kill herself.’
    ‘Pah! People say such things, but they don’t do them.’
    ‘You don’t know Mercédès, Monsieur. If she threatens to do something, she will.’
    ‘Idiot!’ Danglars muttered. ‘What does it matter whether she kills herself or not, provided Dantès does not become captain.’
    ‘And before Mercédès dies,’ Fernand went on, in firmly resolute tones, ‘I should die myself.’
    ‘There’s love for you!’ Caderousse said, in a voice increasingly slurred by drink. ‘There’s love, or I don’t know it.’
    ‘Come now,’ said Danglars. ‘You seem an agreeable enough lad to me and – by