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Ah, capital, said Beauchamp. For a man not connected with
newspapers, here is the pendant to the famous sea-serpent of
the Constitutionnel.
Wild eyes, the iris of which contracts or dilates at
pleasure, said Debray; facial angle strongly developed,
magnificent forehead, livid complexion, black beard, sharp
and white teeth, politeness unexceptionable.
Just so, Lucien, returned Morcerf; you have described him
feature for feature. Yes, keen and cutting politeness. This
man has often made me shudder; and one day that we were
viewing an execution, I thought I should faint, more from
hearing the cold and calm manner in which he spoke of every
description of torture, than from the sight of the
executioner and the culprit.
Did he not conduct you to the ruins of the Colosseum and
suck your blood? asked Beauchamp.
Or, having delivered you, make you sign a flaming
parchment, surrendering your soul to him as Esau did his
birth-right?
Rail on, rail on at your ease, gentlemen, said Morcerf,
somewhat piqued. When I look at you Parisians, idlers on
the Boulevard de Gand or the Bois de Boulogne, and think of
this man, it seems to me we are not of the same race.
I am highly flattered, returned Beauchamp. At the same
time, added Chateau-Renaud, your Count of Monte Cristo is
a very fine fellow, always excepting his little arrangements
with the Italian banditti.
There are no Italian banditti, said Debray.
No vampire, cried Beauchamp. No Count of Monte Cristo
added Debray. There is half-past ten striking, Albert.
Confess you have dreamed this, and let us sit down to
breakfast, continued Beauchamp. But the sound of the clock
had not died away when Germain announced, His excellency
the Count of Monte Cristo. The involuntary start every one
gave proved how much Morcerfs narrative had impressed them,
and Albert himself could not wholly refrain from manifesting
sudden emotion. He had not heard a carriage stop in the
street, or steps in the ante-chamber; the door had itself
opened noiselessly. The count appeared, dressed with the
greatest simplicity, but the most fastidious dandy could
have found nothing to cavil at in his toilet. Every article
of dress -- hat, coat, gloves, and boots -- was from the
first makers. He seemed scarcely five and thirty. But what
struck everybody was his extreme resemblance to the portrait
Debray had drawn. The count advanced, smiling, into the
centre of the room, and approached Albert, who hastened
towards him holding out his hand in a ceremonial manner.
Punctuality, said Monte Cristo, is the politeness of
kings, according to one of your sovereigns, I think; but it
is not the same with travellers. However, I hope you will
excuse the two or three seconds I am behindhand; five
hundred leagues are not to be accomplished without some
trouble, and especially in France, where, it seems, it is
forbidden to beat the postilions.
My dear count, replied Albert, I was announcing your
visit to some of my friends, whom I had invited in
consequence of the promise you did me the honor to make, and
whom I now present to you. They are the Count of
Chateau-Renaud, whose nobility goes back to the twelve
peers, and whose ancestors had a place at the Round Table;
M. Lucien Debray, private secretary to the minister of the
interior; M. Beauchamp, an editor of a paper, and the terror
of the French government, but of whom, in spite of his
national celebrity, you perhaps have not heard in Italy,
since his paper is prohibited there; and M. Maximilian
Morrel, captain of Spahis.
At this name the count, who had hitherto saluted every one
with courtesy, but at the same time with coldness and
formality, stepped a pace forward, and a slight tinge of red
colored his pale cheeks. You wear the uniform of the new
French conquerors, monsieur, said he; it is a handsome
uniform. No one could have said what caused the counts
voice to vibrate so deeply, and what made his eye flash,
which was in general so clear, lustrous, and limpid when he
pleased. You have never seen our Africans, count? said
Albert. Never, replied the count, who was by this time
perfectly master of himself again.
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Then it is settled, said the count, and I give you my
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I pledge you my honor, cards returned the count, that I mean to
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