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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." `
`
`
`
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