Reading Help The Count of Monte Cristo Ch.1-10
him at the corner of the Rue Senac. `
` `
` "Well," said Danglars, "did you see him?" `
` `
` "I have just left him," answered Caderousse. `
` `
` "Did he allude to his hope of being captain?" `
` `
` "He spoke of it as a thing already decided." `
` `
` "Indeed!" said Danglars, "he is in too much hurry, it `
` appears to me." `
` `
` "Why, it seems M. Morrel has promised him the thing." `
` `
` "So that he is quite elated about it?" `
` `
` "Why, yes, he is actually insolent over the matter -- has `
` already offered me his patronage, as if he were a grand `
` personage, and proffered me a loan of money, as though he `
` were a banker." `
` `
` "Which you refused?" `
` `
` "Most assuredly; although I might easily have accepted it, `
` for it was I who put into his hands the first silver he ever `
` earned; but now M. Dantes has no longer any occasion for `
` assistance -- he is about to become a captain." `
` `
` "Pooh!" said Danglars, "he is not one yet." `
` `
` "Ma foi, it will be as well if he is not," answered `
` Caderousse; "for if he should be, there will be really no `
` speaking to him." `
` `
` "If we choose," replied Danglars, "he will remain what he `
` is; and perhaps become even less than he is." `
` `
` "What do you mean?" `
` `
` "Nothing -- I was speaking to myself. And is he still in `
` love with the Catalane?" `
` `
` "Over head and ears; but, unless I am much mistaken, there `
` will be a storm in that quarter." `
` `
` "Explain yourself." `
` `
` "Why should I?" `
` `
` "It is more important than you think, perhaps. You do not `
` like Dantes?" `
` `
` "I never like upstarts." `
` `
` "Then tell me all you know about the Catalane." `
` `
` "I know nothing for certain; only I have seen things which `
` induce me to believe, as I told you, that the future captain `
` will find some annoyance in the vicinity of the Vieilles `
` Infirmeries." `
` `
` "What have you seen? -- come, tell me!" `
` `
` "Well, every time I have seen Mercedes come into the city `
` she has been accompanied by a tall, strapping, black-eyed `
` Catalan, with a red complexion, brown skin, and fierce air, `
` whom she calls cousin." `
` `
` "Really; and you think this cousin pays her attentions?" `
` `
` "I only suppose so. What else can a strapping chap of `
` twenty-one mean with a fine wench of seventeen?" `
` `
` "And you say that Dantes has gone to the Catalans?" `
` `
` "He went before I came down." `
` `
` "Let us go the same way; we will stop at La Reserve, and we `
` can drink a glass of La Malgue, whilst we wait for news." `
` `
` "Come along," said Caderousse; "but you pay the score." `
` `
` "Of course," replied Danglars; and going quickly to the `
` designated place, they called for a bottle of wine, and two `
` glasses. `
` `
` Pere Pamphile had seen Dantes pass not ten minutes before; `
` and assured that he was at the Catalans, they sat down under `
` the budding foliage of the planes and sycamores, in the `
` branches of which the birds were singing their welcome to `
` one of the first days of spring. `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter 3 `
` The Catalans. `
` `
` Beyond a bare, weather-worn wall, about a hundred paces from `
` the spot where the two friends sat looking and listening as `
` they drank their wine, was the village of the Catalans. Long `
` ago this mysterious colony quitted Spain, and settled on the `
` tongue of land on which it is to this day. Whence it came no `
` one knew, and it spoke an unknown tongue. One of its chiefs, `
` who understood Provencal, begged the commune of Marseilles `
` to give them this bare and barren promontory, where, like `
` the sailors of old, they had run their boats ashore. The `
` request was granted; and three months afterwards, around the `
` twelve or fifteen small vessels which had brought these `
` gypsies of the sea, a small village sprang up. This village, `
` constructed in a singular and picturesque manner, half `
` Moorish, half Spanish, still remains, and is inhabited by `
` descendants of the first comers, who speak the language of `
` their fathers. For three or four centuries they have `
` remained upon this small promontory, on which they had `
` settled like a flight of seabirds, without mixing with the `
` Marseillaise population, intermarrying, and preserving their `
` original customs and the costume of their mother-country as `
` they have preserved its language. `
` `
` Our readers will follow us along the only street of this `
` little village, and enter with us one of the houses, which `
` is sunburned to the beautiful dead-leaf color peculiar to `
` the buildings of the country, and within coated with `
` whitewash, like a Spanish posada. A young and beautiful `
` girl, with hair as black as jet, her eyes as velvety as the `
` gazelle's, was leaning with her back against the wainscot, `
` rubbing in her slender delicately moulded fingers a bunch of `
` heath blossoms, the flowers of which she was picking off and `
` strewing on the floor; her arms, bare to the elbow, brown, `
` and modelled after those of the Arlesian Venus, moved with a `
` kind of restless impatience, and she tapped the earth with `
` her arched and supple foot, so as to display the pure and `
` full shape of her well-turned leg, in its red cotton, gray `
` and blue clocked, stocking. At three paces from her, seated `
` in a chair which he balanced on two legs, leaning his elbow `
` on an old worm-eaten table, was a tall young man of twenty, `
` or two-and-twenty, who was looking at her with an air in `
` which vexation and uneasiness were mingled. He questioned `
` her with his eyes, but the firm and steady gaze of the young `
` girl controlled his look. `
` `
` "You see, Mercedes," said the young man, "here is Easter `
` come round again; tell me, is this the moment for a `
` wedding?" `
` `
` "I have answered you a hundred times, Fernand, and really `
` you must be very stupid to ask me again." `
` `
` "Well, repeat it, -- repeat it, I beg of you, that I may at `
` last believe it! Tell me for the hundredth time that you `
` refuse my love, which had your mother's sanction. Make me `
` understand once for all that you are trifling with my `
` happiness, that my life or death are nothing to you. Ah, to `
` have dreamed for ten years of being your husband, Mercedes, `
` and to lose that hope, which was the only stay of my `
` existence!" `
` `
` "At least it was not I who ever encouraged you in that hope, `
` Fernand," replied Mercedes; "you cannot reproach me with the `
` slightest coquetry. I have always said to you, `I love you `
` as a brother; but do not ask from me more than sisterly `
` affection, for my heart is another's.' Is not this true, `
` Fernand?" `
` `
` "Yes, that is very true, Mercedes," replied the young man, `
` "Yes, you have been cruelly frank with me; but do you forget `
` that it is among the Catalans a sacred law to intermarry?" `
` `
` "You mistake, Fernand; it is not a law, but merely a custom, `
` and, I pray of you, do not cite this custom in your favor. `
` You are included in the conscription, Fernand, and are only `
` at liberty on sufferance, liable at any moment to be called `
` upon to take up arms. Once a soldier, what would you do with `
` me, a poor orphan, forlorn, without fortune, with nothing `
` but a half-ruined hut and a few ragged nets, the miserable `
` inheritance left by my father to my mother, and by my mother `
` to me? She has been dead a year, and you know, Fernand, I `
` have subsisted almost entirely on public charity. Sometimes `
` you pretend I am useful to you, and that is an excuse to `
` share with me the produce of your fishing, and I accept it, `
` Fernand, because you are the son of my father's brother, `
` because we were brought up together, and still more because `
` it would give you so much pain if I refuse. But I feel very `
` deeply that this fish which I go and sell, and with the `
` produce of which I buy the flax I spin, -- I feel very `
` keenly, Fernand, that this is charity." `
` `
` "And if it were, Mercedes, poor and lone as you are, you `
` suit me as well as the daughter of the first shipowner or `
` the richest banker of Marseilles! What do such as we desire `
` but a good wife and careful housekeeper, and where can I `
` look for these better than in you?" `
` `
` "Fernand," answered Mercedes, shaking her head, "a woman `
` becomes a bad manager, and who shall say she will remain an `
` honest woman, when she loves another man better than her `
` husband? Rest content with my friendship, for I say once `
` more that is all I can promise, and I will promise no more `
` than I can bestow." `
` `
`
` `
` "Well," said Danglars, "did you see him?" `
` `
` "I have just left him," answered Caderousse. `
` `
` "Did he allude to his hope of being captain?" `
` `
` "He spoke of it as a thing already decided." `
` `
` "Indeed!" said Danglars, "he is in too much hurry, it `
` appears to me." `
` `
` "Why, it seems M. Morrel has promised him the thing." `
` `
` "So that he is quite elated about it?" `
` `
` "Why, yes, he is actually insolent over the matter -- has `
` already offered me his patronage, as if he were a grand `
` personage, and proffered me a loan of money, as though he `
` were a banker." `
` `
` "Which you refused?" `
` `
` "Most assuredly; although I might easily have accepted it, `
` for it was I who put into his hands the first silver he ever `
` earned; but now M. Dantes has no longer any occasion for `
` assistance -- he is about to become a captain." `
` `
` "Pooh!" said Danglars, "he is not one yet." `
` `
` "Ma foi, it will be as well if he is not," answered `
` Caderousse; "for if he should be, there will be really no `
` speaking to him." `
` `
` "If we choose," replied Danglars, "he will remain what he `
` is; and perhaps become even less than he is." `
` `
` "What do you mean?" `
` `
` "Nothing -- I was speaking to myself. And is he still in `
` love with the Catalane?" `
` `
` "Over head and ears; but, unless I am much mistaken, there `
` will be a storm in that quarter." `
` `
` "Explain yourself." `
` `
` "Why should I?" `
` `
` "It is more important than you think, perhaps. You do not `
` like Dantes?" `
` `
` "I never like upstarts." `
` `
` "Then tell me all you know about the Catalane." `
` `
` "I know nothing for certain; only I have seen things which `
` induce me to believe, as I told you, that the future captain `
` will find some annoyance in the vicinity of the Vieilles `
` Infirmeries." `
` `
` "What have you seen? -- come, tell me!" `
` `
` "Well, every time I have seen Mercedes come into the city `
` she has been accompanied by a tall, strapping, black-eyed `
` Catalan, with a red complexion, brown skin, and fierce air, `
` whom she calls cousin." `
` `
` "Really; and you think this cousin pays her attentions?" `
` `
` "I only suppose so. What else can a strapping chap of `
` twenty-one mean with a fine wench of seventeen?" `
` `
` "And you say that Dantes has gone to the Catalans?" `
` `
` "He went before I came down." `
` `
` "Let us go the same way; we will stop at La Reserve, and we `
` can drink a glass of La Malgue, whilst we wait for news." `
` `
` "Come along," said Caderousse; "but you pay the score." `
` `
` "Of course," replied Danglars; and going quickly to the `
` designated place, they called for a bottle of wine, and two `
` glasses. `
` `
` Pere Pamphile had seen Dantes pass not ten minutes before; `
` and assured that he was at the Catalans, they sat down under `
` the budding foliage of the planes and sycamores, in the `
` branches of which the birds were singing their welcome to `
` one of the first days of spring. `
` `
` `
` `
` Chapter 3 `
` The Catalans. `
` `
` Beyond a bare, weather-worn wall, about a hundred paces from `
` the spot where the two friends sat looking and listening as `
` they drank their wine, was the village of the Catalans. Long `
` ago this mysterious colony quitted Spain, and settled on the `
` tongue of land on which it is to this day. Whence it came no `
` one knew, and it spoke an unknown tongue. One of its chiefs, `
` who understood Provencal, begged the commune of Marseilles `
` to give them this bare and barren promontory, where, like `
` the sailors of old, they had run their boats ashore. The `
` request was granted; and three months afterwards, around the `
` twelve or fifteen small vessels which had brought these `
` gypsies of the sea, a small village sprang up. This village, `
` constructed in a singular and picturesque manner, half `
` Moorish, half Spanish, still remains, and is inhabited by `
` descendants of the first comers, who speak the language of `
` their fathers. For three or four centuries they have `
` remained upon this small promontory, on which they had `
` settled like a flight of seabirds, without mixing with the `
` Marseillaise population, intermarrying, and preserving their `
` original customs and the costume of their mother-country as `
` they have preserved its language. `
` `
` Our readers will follow us along the only street of this `
` little village, and enter with us one of the houses, which `
` is sunburned to the beautiful dead-leaf color peculiar to `
` the buildings of the country, and within coated with `
` whitewash, like a Spanish posada. A young and beautiful `
` girl, with hair as black as jet, her eyes as velvety as the `
` gazelle's, was leaning with her back against the wainscot, `
` rubbing in her slender delicately moulded fingers a bunch of `
` heath blossoms, the flowers of which she was picking off and `
` strewing on the floor; her arms, bare to the elbow, brown, `
` and modelled after those of the Arlesian Venus, moved with a `
` kind of restless impatience, and she tapped the earth with `
` her arched and supple foot, so as to display the pure and `
` full shape of her well-turned leg, in its red cotton, gray `
` and blue clocked, stocking. At three paces from her, seated `
` in a chair which he balanced on two legs, leaning his elbow `
` on an old worm-eaten table, was a tall young man of twenty, `
` or two-and-twenty, who was looking at her with an air in `
` which vexation and uneasiness were mingled. He questioned `
` her with his eyes, but the firm and steady gaze of the young `
` girl controlled his look. `
` `
` "You see, Mercedes," said the young man, "here is Easter `
` come round again; tell me, is this the moment for a `
` wedding?" `
` `
` "I have answered you a hundred times, Fernand, and really `
` you must be very stupid to ask me again." `
` `
` "Well, repeat it, -- repeat it, I beg of you, that I may at `
` last believe it! Tell me for the hundredth time that you `
` refuse my love, which had your mother's sanction. Make me `
` understand once for all that you are trifling with my `
` happiness, that my life or death are nothing to you. Ah, to `
` have dreamed for ten years of being your husband, Mercedes, `
` and to lose that hope, which was the only stay of my `
` existence!" `
` `
` "At least it was not I who ever encouraged you in that hope, `
` Fernand," replied Mercedes; "you cannot reproach me with the `
` slightest coquetry. I have always said to you, `I love you `
` as a brother; but do not ask from me more than sisterly `
` affection, for my heart is another's.' Is not this true, `
` Fernand?" `
` `
` "Yes, that is very true, Mercedes," replied the young man, `
` "Yes, you have been cruelly frank with me; but do you forget `
` that it is among the Catalans a sacred law to intermarry?" `
` `
` "You mistake, Fernand; it is not a law, but merely a custom, `
` and, I pray of you, do not cite this custom in your favor. `
` You are included in the conscription, Fernand, and are only `
` at liberty on sufferance, liable at any moment to be called `
` upon to take up arms. Once a soldier, what would you do with `
` me, a poor orphan, forlorn, without fortune, with nothing `
` but a half-ruined hut and a few ragged nets, the miserable `
` inheritance left by my father to my mother, and by my mother `
` to me? She has been dead a year, and you know, Fernand, I `
` have subsisted almost entirely on public charity. Sometimes `
` you pretend I am useful to you, and that is an excuse to `
` share with me the produce of your fishing, and I accept it, `
` Fernand, because you are the son of my father's brother, `
` because we were brought up together, and still more because `
` it would give you so much pain if I refuse. But I feel very `
` deeply that this fish which I go and sell, and with the `
` produce of which I buy the flax I spin, -- I feel very `
` keenly, Fernand, that this is charity." `
` `
` "And if it were, Mercedes, poor and lone as you are, you `
` suit me as well as the daughter of the first shipowner or `
` the richest banker of Marseilles! What do such as we desire `
` but a good wife and careful housekeeper, and where can I `
` look for these better than in you?" `
` `
` "Fernand," answered Mercedes, shaking her head, "a woman `
` becomes a bad manager, and who shall say she will remain an `
` honest woman, when she loves another man better than her `
` husband? Rest content with my friendship, for I say once `
` more that is all I can promise, and I will promise no more `
` than I can bestow." `
` `
`