第289章

"Well, my husband would never live in it.""Indeed?" returned Monte Cristo, "that is a prejudice on your part, M.de Villefort, for which I am quite at a loss to account.""I do not like Auteuil, sir," said the procureur, making an evident effort to appear calm.

"But I hope you will not carry your antipathy so far as to deprive me of the pleasure of your company, sir," said Monte Cristo.

"No, count, -- I hope -- I assure you I shall do my best,"stammered Villefort.

"Oh," said Monte Cristo, "I allow of no excuse.On Saturday, at six o'clock.I shall be expecting you, and if you fail to come, I shall think -- for how do I know to the contrary? --that this house, which his remained uninhabited for twenty years, must have some gloomy tradition or dreadful legend connected with it.""I will come, count, -- I will be sure to come," said Villefort eagerly.

"Thank you," said Monte Cristo; "now you must permit me to take my leave of you.""You said before that you were obliged to leave us, monsieur," said Madame de Villefort, "and you were about to tell us why when your attention was called to some other subject.""Indeed madame," said Monte Cristo: "I scarcely know if Idare tell you where I am going."

"Nonsense; say on."

"Well, then, it is to see a thing on which I have sometimes mused for hours together.""What is it?"

"A telegraph.So now I have told my secret.""A telegraph?" repeated Madame de Villefort.

"Yes, a telegraph.I had often seen one placed at the end of a road on a hillock, and in the light of the sun its black arms, bending in every direction, always reminded me of the claws of an immense beetle, and I assure you it was never without emotion that I gazed on it, for I could not help thinking how wonderful it was that these various signs should be made to cleave the air with such precision as to convey to the distance of three hundred leagues the ideas and wishes of a man sitting at a table at one end of the line to another man similarly placed at the opposite extremity, and all this effected by a simple act of volition on the part of the sender of the message.I began to think of genii, sylphs, gnomes, in short, of all the ministers of the occult sciences, until I laughed aloud at the freaks of my own imagination.Now, it never occurred to me to wish for a nearer inspection of these large insects, with their long black claws, for I always feared to find under their stone wings some little human genius fagged to death with cabals, factions, and government intrigues.But one fine day Ilearned that the mover of this telegraph was only a poor wretch, hired for twelve hundred francs a year, and employed all day, not in studying the heavens like an astronomer, or in gazing on the water like an angler, or even in enjoying the privilege of observing the country around him, but all his monotonous life was passed in watching his white-bellied, black-clawed fellow insect, four or five leagues distant from him.At length I felt a desire to study this living chrysalis more closely, and to endeavor to understand the secret part played by these insect-actors when they occupy themselves simply with pulling different pieces of string.""And are you going there?"

"I am."

"What telegraph do you intend visiting? that of the home department, or of the observatory?""Oh, no; I should find there people who would force me to understand things of which I would prefer to remain ignorant, and who would try to explain to me, in spite of myself, a mystery which even they do not understand.Ma foi, I should wish to keep my illusions concerning insects unimpaired; it is quite enough to have those dissipated which I had formed of my fellow-creatures.I shall, therefore, not visit either of these telegraphs, but one in the open country where I shall find a good-natured simpleton, who knows no more than the machine he is employed to work.""You are a singular man," said Villefort.

"What line would you advise me to study?""The one that is most in use just at this time.""The Spanish one, you mean, I suppose?"

"Yes; should you like a letter to the minister that they might explain to you" --"No," said Monte Cristo; "since, as I told you before, I do not wish to comprehend it.The moment I understand it there will no longer exist a telegraph for me; it will he nothing more than a sign from M.Duchatel, or from M.Montalivet, transmitted to the prefect of Bayonne, mystified by two Greek words, tele, graphein.It is the insect with black claws, and the awful word which I wish to retain in my imagination in all its purity and all its importance.""Go then; for in the course of two hours it will be dark, and you will not be able to see anything.""Ma foi, you frighten me.Which is the nearest way?

Bayonne?"

"Yes; the road to Bayonne."

"And afterwards the road to Chatillon?"

"Yes."

"By the tower of Montlhery, you mean?"

"Yes."

"Thank you.Good-by.On Saturday I will tell you my impressions concerning the telegraph." At the door the count was met by the two notaries, who had just completed the act which was to disinherit Valentine, and who were leaving under the conviction of having done a thing which could not fail of redounding considerably to their credit.