Reading Help The Count of Monte Cristo Ch.40-74
of everybody it seemed fit for table, and preserved its `
` wholesome appearance. It was only poisoned to the Abbe `
` Adelmonte. He then took the cabbage to the room where he had `
` rabbits -- for the Abbe Adelmonte had a collection of `
` rabbits, cats, and guinea-pigs, fully as fine as his `
` collection of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. Well, the Abbe `
` Adelmonte took a rabbit, and made it eat a leaf of the `
` cabbage. The rabbit died. What magistrate would find, or `
` even venture to insinuate, anything against this? What `
` procureur has ever ventured to draw up an accusation against `
` M. Magendie or M. Flourens, in consequence of the rabbits, `
` cats, and guinea-pigs they have killed? -- not one. So, `
` then, the rabbit dies, and justice takes no notice. This `
` rabbit dead, the Abbe Adelmonte has its entrails taken out `
` by his cook and thrown on the dunghill; on this dunghill is `
` a hen, who, pecking these intestines, is in her turn taken `
` ill, and dies next day. At the moment when she is struggling `
` in the convulsions of death, a vulture is flying by (there `
` are a good many vultures in Adelmonte's country); this bird `
` darts on the dead fowl, and carries it away to a rock, where `
` it dines off its prey. Three days afterwards, this poor `
` vulture, which has been very much indisposed since that `
` dinner, suddenly feels very giddy while flying aloft in the `
` clouds, and falls heavily into a fish-pond. The pike, eels, `
` and carp eat greedily always, as everybody knows -- well, `
` they feast on the vulture. Now suppose that next day, one of `
` these eels, or pike, or carp, poisoned at the fourth remove, `
` is served up at your table. Well, then, your guest will be `
` poisoned at the fifth remove, and die, at the end of eight `
` or ten days, of pains in the intestines, sickness, or `
` abscess of the pylorus. The doctors open the body and say `
` with an air of profound learning, `The subject has died of a `
` tumor on the liver, or of typhoid fever!'" `
` `
` "But," remarked Madame de Villefort, "all these `
` circumstances which you link thus to one another may be `
` broken by the least accident; the vulture may not see the `
` fowl, or may fall a hundred yards from the fish-pond." `
` `
` "Ah, that is where the art comes in. To be a great chemist `
` in the East, one must direct chance; and this is to be `
` achieved." -- Madame de Villefort was in deep thought, yet `
` listened attentively. "But," she exclaimed, suddenly, `
` "arsenic is indelible, indestructible; in whatsoever way it `
` is absorbed, it will be found again in the body of the `
` victim from the moment when it has been taken in sufficient `
` quantity to cause death." `
` `
` "Precisely so," cried Monte Cristo -- "precisely so; and `
` this is what I said to my worthy Adelmonte. He reflected, `
` smiled, and replied to me by a Sicilian proverb, which I `
` believe is also a French proverb, `My son, the world was not `
` made in a day -- but in seven. Return on Sunday.' On the `
` Sunday following I did return to him. Instead of having `
` watered his cabbage with arsenic, he had watered it this `
` time with a solution of salts, having their basis in `
` strychnine, strychnos colubrina, as the learned term it. `
` Now, the cabbage had not the slightest appearance of disease `
` in the world, and the rabbit had not the smallest distrust; `
` yet, five minutes afterwards, the rabbit was dead. The fowl `
` pecked at the rabbit, and the next day was a dead hen. This `
` time we were the vultures; so we opened the bird, and this `
` time all special symptoms had disappeared, there were only `
` general symptoms. There was no peculiar indication in any `
` organ -- an excitement of the nervous system -- that was it; `
` a case of cerebral congestion -- nothing more. The fowl had `
` not been poisoned -- she had died of apoplexy. Apoplexy is a `
` rare disease among fowls, I believe, but very common among `
` men." Madame de Villefort appeared more and more thoughtful. `
` `
` "It is very fortunate," she observed, "that such substances `
` could only be prepared by chemists; otherwise, all the world `
` would be poisoning each other." `
` `
` "By chemists and persons who have a taste for chemistry," `
` said Monte Cristo carelessly. `
` `
` "And then," said Madame de Villefort, endeavoring by a `
` struggle, and with effort, to get away from her thoughts, `
` "however skilfully it is prepared, crime is always crime, `
` and if it avoid human scrutiny, it does not escape the eye `
` of God. The Orientals are stronger than we are in cases of `
` conscience, and, very prudently, have no hell -- that is the `
` point." `
` `
` "Really, madame, this is a scruple which naturally must `
` occur to a pure mind like yours, but which would easily `
` yield before sound reasoning. The bad side of human thought `
` will always be defined by the paradox of Jean Jacques `
` Rousseau, -- you remember, -- the mandarin who is killed `
` five hundred leagues off by raising the tip of the finger. `
` Man's whole life passes in doing these things, and his `
` intellect is exhausted by reflecting on them. You will find `
` very few persons who will go and brutally thrust a knife in `
` the heart of a fellow-creature, or will administer to him, `
` in order to remove him from the surface of the globe on `
` which we move with life and animation, that quantity of `
` arsenic of which we just now talked. Such a thing is really `
` out of rule -- eccentric or stupid. To attain such a point, `
` the blood must be heated to thirty-six degrees, the pulse `
` be, at least, at ninety, and the feelings excited beyond the `
` ordinary limit. But suppose one pass, as is permissible in `
` philology, from the word itself to its softened synonym, `
` then, instead of committing an ignoble assassination you `
` make an `elimination;' you merely and simply remove from `
` your path the individual who is in your way, and that `
` without shock or violence, without the display of the `
` sufferings which, in the case of becoming a punishment, make `
` a martyr of the victim, and a butcher, in every sense of the `
` word, of him who inflicts them. Then there will be no blood, `
` no groans, no convulsions, and above all, no consciousness `
` of that horrid and compromising moment of accomplishing the `
` act, -- then one escapes the clutch of the human law, which `
` says, `Do not disturb society!' This is the mode in which `
` they manage these things, and succeed in Eastern climes, `
` where there are grave and phlegmatic persons who care very `
` little for the questions of time in conjunctures of `
` importance." `
` `
` "Yet conscience remains," remarked Madame de Villefort in an `
` agitated voice, and with a stifled sigh. `
` `
` "Yes," answered Monte Cristo "happily, yes, conscience does `
` remain; and if it did not, how wretched we should be! After `
` every action requiring exertion, it is conscience that saves `
` us, for it supplies us with a thousand good excuses, of `
` which we alone are judges; and these reasons, howsoever `
` excellent in producing sleep, would avail us but very little `
` before a tribunal, when we were tried for our lives. Thus `
` Richard III., for instance, was marvellously served by his `
` conscience after the putting away of the two children of `
` Edward IV.; in fact, he could say, `These two children of a `
` cruel and persecuting king, who have inherited the vices of `
` their father, which I alone could perceive in their juvenile `
` propensities -- these two children are impediments in my way `
` of promoting the happiness of the English people, whose `
` unhappiness they (the children) would infallibly have `
` caused.' Thus was Lady Macbeth served by her conscience, `
` when she sought to give her son, and not her husband `
` (whatever Shakespeare may say), a throne. Ah, maternal love `
` is a great virtue, a powerful motive -- so powerful that it `
` excuses a multitude of things, even if, after Duncan's `
` death, Lady Macbeth had been at all pricked by her `
` conscience." `
` `
` Madame de Villefort listened with avidity to these appalling `
` maxims and horrible paradoxes, delivered by the count with `
` that ironical simplicity which was peculiar to him. After a `
` moment's silence, the lady inquired, "Do you know, my dear `
` count," she said, "that you are a very terrible reasoner, `
` and that you look at the world through a somewhat `
` distempered medium? Have you really measured the world by `
` scrutinies, or through alembics and crucibles? For you must `
` indeed be a great chemist, and the elixir you administered `
` to my son, which recalled him to life almost `
` instantaneously" -- `
` `
` "Oh, do not place any reliance on that, madame; one drop of `
` that elixir sufficed to recall life to a dying child, but `
` three drops would have impelled the blood into his lungs in `
` such a way as to have produced most violent palpitations; `
` six would have suspended his respiration, and caused syncope `
` more serious than that in which he was; ten would have `
` destroyed him. You know, madame, how suddenly I snatched him `
` from those phials which he so imprudently touched?" `
` `
` "Is it then so terrible a poison?" `
` `
` "Oh, no. In the first place, let us agree that the word `
` poison does not exist, because in medicine use is made of `
` the most violent poisons, which become, according as they `
` are employed, most salutary remedies." `
` `
` "What, then, is it?" `
` `
` "A skilful preparation of my friend's the worthy Abbe `
` Adelmonte, who taught me the use of it." `
` `
` "Oh," observed Madame de Villefort, "it must be an admirable `
` anti-spasmodic." `
` `
` "Perfect, madame, as you have seen," replied the count; "and `
` I frequently make use of it -- with all possible prudence `
` though, be it observed," he added with a smile of `
` intelligence. `
` `
` "Most assuredly," responded Madame de Villefort in the same `
` tone. "As for me, so nervous, and so subject to fainting `
` fits, I should require a Doctor Adelmonte to invent for me `
` some means of breathing freely and tranquillizing my mind, `
` in the fear I have of dying some fine day of suffocation. In `
` the meanwhile, as the thing is difficult to find in France, `
` and your abbe is not probably disposed to make a journey to `
` Paris on my account, I must continue to use Monsieur `
` Planche's anti-spasmodics; and mint and Hoffman's drops are `
` among my favorite remedies. Here are some lozenges which I `
` have made up on purpose; they are compounded doubly strong." `
` Monte Cristo opened the tortoise-shell box, which the lady `
` presented to him, and inhaled the odor of the lozenges with `
` the air of an amateur who thoroughly appreciated their `
` composition. "They are indeed exquisite," he said; "but as `
`
` wholesome appearance. It was only poisoned to the Abbe `
` Adelmonte. He then took the cabbage to the room where he had `
` rabbits -- for the Abbe Adelmonte had a collection of `
` rabbits, cats, and guinea-pigs, fully as fine as his `
` collection of vegetables, flowers, and fruit. Well, the Abbe `
` Adelmonte took a rabbit, and made it eat a leaf of the `
` cabbage. The rabbit died. What magistrate would find, or `
` even venture to insinuate, anything against this? What `
` procureur has ever ventured to draw up an accusation against `
` M. Magendie or M. Flourens, in consequence of the rabbits, `
` cats, and guinea-pigs they have killed? -- not one. So, `
` then, the rabbit dies, and justice takes no notice. This `
` rabbit dead, the Abbe Adelmonte has its entrails taken out `
` by his cook and thrown on the dunghill; on this dunghill is `
` a hen, who, pecking these intestines, is in her turn taken `
` ill, and dies next day. At the moment when she is struggling `
` in the convulsions of death, a vulture is flying by (there `
` are a good many vultures in Adelmonte's country); this bird `
` darts on the dead fowl, and carries it away to a rock, where `
` it dines off its prey. Three days afterwards, this poor `
` vulture, which has been very much indisposed since that `
` dinner, suddenly feels very giddy while flying aloft in the `
` clouds, and falls heavily into a fish-pond. The pike, eels, `
` and carp eat greedily always, as everybody knows -- well, `
` they feast on the vulture. Now suppose that next day, one of `
` these eels, or pike, or carp, poisoned at the fourth remove, `
` is served up at your table. Well, then, your guest will be `
` poisoned at the fifth remove, and die, at the end of eight `
` or ten days, of pains in the intestines, sickness, or `
` abscess of the pylorus. The doctors open the body and say `
` with an air of profound learning, `The subject has died of a `
` tumor on the liver, or of typhoid fever!'" `
` `
` "But," remarked Madame de Villefort, "all these `
` circumstances which you link thus to one another may be `
` broken by the least accident; the vulture may not see the `
` fowl, or may fall a hundred yards from the fish-pond." `
` `
` "Ah, that is where the art comes in. To be a great chemist `
` in the East, one must direct chance; and this is to be `
` achieved." -- Madame de Villefort was in deep thought, yet `
` listened attentively. "But," she exclaimed, suddenly, `
` "arsenic is indelible, indestructible; in whatsoever way it `
` is absorbed, it will be found again in the body of the `
` victim from the moment when it has been taken in sufficient `
` quantity to cause death." `
` `
` "Precisely so," cried Monte Cristo -- "precisely so; and `
` this is what I said to my worthy Adelmonte. He reflected, `
` smiled, and replied to me by a Sicilian proverb, which I `
` believe is also a French proverb, `My son, the world was not `
` made in a day -- but in seven. Return on Sunday.' On the `
` Sunday following I did return to him. Instead of having `
` watered his cabbage with arsenic, he had watered it this `
` time with a solution of salts, having their basis in `
` strychnine, strychnos colubrina, as the learned term it. `
` Now, the cabbage had not the slightest appearance of disease `
` in the world, and the rabbit had not the smallest distrust; `
` yet, five minutes afterwards, the rabbit was dead. The fowl `
` pecked at the rabbit, and the next day was a dead hen. This `
` time we were the vultures; so we opened the bird, and this `
` time all special symptoms had disappeared, there were only `
` general symptoms. There was no peculiar indication in any `
` organ -- an excitement of the nervous system -- that was it; `
` a case of cerebral congestion -- nothing more. The fowl had `
` not been poisoned -- she had died of apoplexy. Apoplexy is a `
` rare disease among fowls, I believe, but very common among `
` men." Madame de Villefort appeared more and more thoughtful. `
` `
` "It is very fortunate," she observed, "that such substances `
` could only be prepared by chemists; otherwise, all the world `
` would be poisoning each other." `
` `
` "By chemists and persons who have a taste for chemistry," `
` said Monte Cristo carelessly. `
` `
` "And then," said Madame de Villefort, endeavoring by a `
` struggle, and with effort, to get away from her thoughts, `
` "however skilfully it is prepared, crime is always crime, `
` and if it avoid human scrutiny, it does not escape the eye `
` of God. The Orientals are stronger than we are in cases of `
` conscience, and, very prudently, have no hell -- that is the `
` point." `
` `
` "Really, madame, this is a scruple which naturally must `
` occur to a pure mind like yours, but which would easily `
` yield before sound reasoning. The bad side of human thought `
` will always be defined by the paradox of Jean Jacques `
` Rousseau, -- you remember, -- the mandarin who is killed `
` five hundred leagues off by raising the tip of the finger. `
` Man's whole life passes in doing these things, and his `
` intellect is exhausted by reflecting on them. You will find `
` very few persons who will go and brutally thrust a knife in `
` the heart of a fellow-creature, or will administer to him, `
` in order to remove him from the surface of the globe on `
` which we move with life and animation, that quantity of `
` arsenic of which we just now talked. Such a thing is really `
` out of rule -- eccentric or stupid. To attain such a point, `
` the blood must be heated to thirty-six degrees, the pulse `
` be, at least, at ninety, and the feelings excited beyond the `
` ordinary limit. But suppose one pass, as is permissible in `
` philology, from the word itself to its softened synonym, `
` then, instead of committing an ignoble assassination you `
` make an `elimination;' you merely and simply remove from `
` your path the individual who is in your way, and that `
` without shock or violence, without the display of the `
` sufferings which, in the case of becoming a punishment, make `
` a martyr of the victim, and a butcher, in every sense of the `
` word, of him who inflicts them. Then there will be no blood, `
` no groans, no convulsions, and above all, no consciousness `
` of that horrid and compromising moment of accomplishing the `
` act, -- then one escapes the clutch of the human law, which `
` says, `Do not disturb society!' This is the mode in which `
` they manage these things, and succeed in Eastern climes, `
` where there are grave and phlegmatic persons who care very `
` little for the questions of time in conjunctures of `
` importance." `
` `
` "Yet conscience remains," remarked Madame de Villefort in an `
` agitated voice, and with a stifled sigh. `
` `
` "Yes," answered Monte Cristo "happily, yes, conscience does `
` remain; and if it did not, how wretched we should be! After `
` every action requiring exertion, it is conscience that saves `
` us, for it supplies us with a thousand good excuses, of `
` which we alone are judges; and these reasons, howsoever `
` excellent in producing sleep, would avail us but very little `
` before a tribunal, when we were tried for our lives. Thus `
` Richard III., for instance, was marvellously served by his `
` conscience after the putting away of the two children of `
` Edward IV.; in fact, he could say, `These two children of a `
` cruel and persecuting king, who have inherited the vices of `
` their father, which I alone could perceive in their juvenile `
` propensities -- these two children are impediments in my way `
` of promoting the happiness of the English people, whose `
` unhappiness they (the children) would infallibly have `
` caused.' Thus was Lady Macbeth served by her conscience, `
` when she sought to give her son, and not her husband `
` (whatever Shakespeare may say), a throne. Ah, maternal love `
` is a great virtue, a powerful motive -- so powerful that it `
` excuses a multitude of things, even if, after Duncan's `
` death, Lady Macbeth had been at all pricked by her `
` conscience." `
` `
` Madame de Villefort listened with avidity to these appalling `
` maxims and horrible paradoxes, delivered by the count with `
` that ironical simplicity which was peculiar to him. After a `
` moment's silence, the lady inquired, "Do you know, my dear `
` count," she said, "that you are a very terrible reasoner, `
` and that you look at the world through a somewhat `
` distempered medium? Have you really measured the world by `
` scrutinies, or through alembics and crucibles? For you must `
` indeed be a great chemist, and the elixir you administered `
` to my son, which recalled him to life almost `
` instantaneously" -- `
` `
` "Oh, do not place any reliance on that, madame; one drop of `
` that elixir sufficed to recall life to a dying child, but `
` three drops would have impelled the blood into his lungs in `
` such a way as to have produced most violent palpitations; `
` six would have suspended his respiration, and caused syncope `
` more serious than that in which he was; ten would have `
` destroyed him. You know, madame, how suddenly I snatched him `
` from those phials which he so imprudently touched?" `
` `
` "Is it then so terrible a poison?" `
` `
` "Oh, no. In the first place, let us agree that the word `
` poison does not exist, because in medicine use is made of `
` the most violent poisons, which become, according as they `
` are employed, most salutary remedies." `
` `
` "What, then, is it?" `
` `
` "A skilful preparation of my friend's the worthy Abbe `
` Adelmonte, who taught me the use of it." `
` `
` "Oh," observed Madame de Villefort, "it must be an admirable `
` anti-spasmodic." `
` `
` "Perfect, madame, as you have seen," replied the count; "and `
` I frequently make use of it -- with all possible prudence `
` though, be it observed," he added with a smile of `
` intelligence. `
` `
` "Most assuredly," responded Madame de Villefort in the same `
` tone. "As for me, so nervous, and so subject to fainting `
` fits, I should require a Doctor Adelmonte to invent for me `
` some means of breathing freely and tranquillizing my mind, `
` in the fear I have of dying some fine day of suffocation. In `
` the meanwhile, as the thing is difficult to find in France, `
` and your abbe is not probably disposed to make a journey to `
` Paris on my account, I must continue to use Monsieur `
` Planche's anti-spasmodics; and mint and Hoffman's drops are `
` among my favorite remedies. Here are some lozenges which I `
` have made up on purpose; they are compounded doubly strong." `
` Monte Cristo opened the tortoise-shell box, which the lady `
` presented to him, and inhaled the odor of the lozenges with `
` the air of an amateur who thoroughly appreciated their `
` composition. "They are indeed exquisite," he said; "but as `
`