The Count of Monte Cristo
evening in the committee-room, and if postponement were necessary, the
proceedings would be resumed each evening at the same hour. Morcerf
asked leave to retire; he had to collect the documents he had long been
preparing against this storm, which his sagacity had foreseen.
Beauchamp related to the young man all the facts we have just narrated;
his story, however, had over ours all the advantage of the animation of
living things over the coldness of dead things.
Albert listened, trembling now with hope, then with anger, and then
again with shame, for from Beauchamp’s confidence he knew his father
was guilty, and he asked himself how, since he was guilty, he could
prove his innocence. Beauchamp hesitated to continue his narrative.
“What next?” asked Albert.
“What next? My friend, you impose a painful task on me. Must you know
all?”
“Absolutely; and rather from your lips than another’s.”
“Muster up all your courage, then, for never have you required it
more.”
Albert passed his hand over his forehead, as if to try his strength, as
a man who is preparing to defend his life proves his shield and bends
his sword. He thought himself strong enough, for he mistook fever for
energy. “Go on,” said he.
“The evening arrived; all Paris was in expectation. Many said your
father had only to show himself to crush the charge against him; many
others said he would not appear; while some asserted that they had seen
him start for Brussels; and others went to the police-office to inquire
if he had taken out a passport. I used all my influence with one of the
committee, a young peer of my acquaintance, to get admission to one of
the galleries. He called for me at seven o’clock, and, before anyone
had arrived, asked one of the door-keepers to place me in a box. I was
concealed by a column, and might witness the whole of the terrible
scene which was about to take place. At eight o’clock all were in their
places, and M. de Morcerf entered at the last stroke. He held some
papers in his hand; his countenance was calm, and his step firm, and he
was dressed with great care in his military uniform, which was buttoned
completely up to the chin. His presence produced a good effect. The
committee was made up of Liberals, several of whom came forward to
shake hands with him.”
Albert felt his heart bursting at these particulars, but gratitude
mingled with his sorrow: he would gladly have embraced those who had
given his father this proof of esteem at a moment when his honor was so
powerfully attacked.
“At this moment one of the door-keepers brought in a letter for the
president. ‘You are at liberty to speak, M. de Morcerf,’ said the
president, as he unsealed the letter; and the count began his defence,
I assure you, Albert, in a most eloquent and skilful manner. He
produced documents proving that the Vizier of Yanina had up to the last
moment honored him with his entire confidence, since he had interested
him with a negotiation of life and death with the emperor. He produced
the ring, his mark of authority, with which Ali Pasha generally sealed
his letters, and which the latter had given him, that he might, on his
return at any hour of the day or night, gain access to the presence,
even in the harem. Unfortunately, the negotiation failed, and when he
returned to defend his benefactor, he was dead. ‘But,’ said the count,
‘so great was Ali Pasha’s confidence, that on his death-bed he resigned
his favorite mistress and her daughter to my care.’”
Albert started on hearing these words; the history of Haydée recurred
to him, and he remembered what she had said of that message and the
ring, and the manner in which she had been sold and made a slave.
“And what effect did this discourse produce?” anxiously inquired
Albert.
“I acknowledge it affected me, and, indeed, all the committee also,”
said Beauchamp.
“Meanwhile, the president carelessly opened the letter which had been
brought to him; but the first lines aroused his attention; he read them
again and again, and fixing his eyes on M. de Morcerf, ‘Count,’ said
he, ‘you have said that the Vizier of Yanina confided his wife and
daughter to your care?’—‘Yes, sir,’ replied Morcerf; ‘but in that, like
all the rest, misfortune pursued me. On my return, Vasiliki and her
daughter Haydée had disappeared.’—‘Did you know them?’—‘My intimacy
with the pasha and his unlimited confidence had gained me an
introduction to them, and I had seen them above twenty times.’
“‘Have you any idea what became of them?’—‘Yes, sir; I heard they had
fallen victims to their sorrow, and, perhaps, to their poverty. I was
not rich; my life was in constant danger; I could not seek them, to my
great regret.’ The president frowned imperceptibly. ‘Gentlemen,’ said
he, ‘you have heard the Comte de Morcerf’s defence. Can you, sir,
produce any witnesses to the truth of what you have asserted?’—‘Alas,
no, monsieur,’ replied the count; ‘all those who surrounded the vizier,
or who knew me at his court, are either dead or gone away, I know not
where. I believe that I alone, of all my countrymen, survived that
dreadful war. I have only the letters of Ali Tepelini, which I have
placed before you; the ring, a token of his good-will, which is here;
and, lastly, the most convincing proof I can offer, after an anonymous
attack, and that is the absence of any witness against my veracity and
the purity of my military life.’
“A murmur of approbation ran through the assembly; and at this moment,
Albert, had nothing more transpired, your father’s cause had been
gained. It only remained to put it to the vote, when the president
resumed: ‘Gentlemen and you, monsieur,—you will not be displeased, I
presume, to listen to one who calls himself a very important witness,
and who has just presented himself. He is, doubtless, come to prove the
perfect innocence of our colleague. Here is a letter I have just
received on the subject; shall it be read, or shall it be passed over?
and shall we take no notice of this incident?’ M. de Morcerf turned
pale, and clenched his hands on the papers he held. The committee
decided to hear the letter; the count was thoughtful and silent. The
president read:
“‘Mr. President,—I can furnish the committee of inquiry into the
conduct of the Lieutenant-General the Count of Morcerf in Epirus and in
Macedonia with important particulars.’
“The president paused, and the count turned pale. The president looked
at his auditors. ‘Proceed,’ was heard on all sides. The president
resumed:
“‘I was on the spot at the death of Ali Pasha. I was present during his
last moments. I know what is become of Vasiliki and Haydée. I am at the
command of the committee, and even claim the honor of being heard. I
shall be in the lobby when this note is delivered to you.’
“‘And who is this witness, or rather this enemy?’ asked the count, in a
tone in which there was a visible alteration. ‘We shall know, sir,’
replied the president. ‘Is the committee willing to hear this
witness?’—‘Yes, yes,’ they all said at once. The door-keeper was
called. ‘Is there anyone in the lobby?’ said the president.
“‘Yes, sir.’—‘Who is it?’—‘A woman, accompanied by a servant.’ Everyone
looked at his neighbor. ‘Bring her in,’ said the president. Five
minutes after the door-keeper again appeared; all eyes were fixed on
the door, and I,” said Beauchamp, “shared the general expectation and
anxiety. Behind the door-keeper walked a woman enveloped in a large
veil, which completely concealed her. It was evident, from her figure
and the perfumes she had about her, that she was young and fastidious
in her tastes, but that was all. The president requested her to throw
aside her veil, and it was then seen that she was dressed in the
Grecian costume, and was remarkably beautiful.”
“Ah,” said Albert, “it was she.”
“Who?”
“Haydée.”
“Who told you that?”
“Alas, I guess it. But go on, Beauchamp. You see I am calm and strong.
And yet we must be drawing near the disclosure.”
“M. de Morcerf,” continued Beauchamp, “looked at this woman with
surprise and terror. Her lips were about to pass his sentence of life
or death. To the committee the adventure was so extraordinary and
curious, that the interest they had felt for the count’s safety became
now quite a secondary matter. The president himself advanced to place a
seat for the young lady; but she declined availing herself of it. As
for the count, he had fallen on his chair; it was evident that his legs
refused to support him.
“‘Madame,’ said the president, ‘you have engaged to furnish the
committee with some important particulars respecting the affair at
Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the
event.’—‘I was, indeed,’ said the stranger, with a tone of sweet
melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East.
“‘But allow me to say that you must have been very young then.’—‘I was
four years old; but as those events deeply concerned me, not a single
detail has escaped my memory.’—‘In what manner could these events
concern you? and who are you, that they should have made so deep an
impression on you?’—‘On them depended my father’s life,’ replied she.
‘I am Haydée, the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of
Vasiliki, his beloved wife.’
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“The blush of mingled pride and modesty which suddenly suffused the
cheeks of the young woman, the brilliancy of her eye, and her highly
important communication, produced an indescribable effect on the
assembly. As for the count, he could not have been more overwhelmed if
a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet and opened an immense gulf before
him.
“‘Madame,’ replied the president, bowing with profound respect, ‘allow
me to ask one question; it shall be the last: Can you prove the
authenticity of what you have now stated?’
“‘I can, sir,’ said Haydée, drawing from under her veil a satin satchel
highly perfumed; ‘for here is the register of my birth, signed by my
father and his principal officers, and that of my baptism, my father
having consented to my being brought up in my mother’s faith,—this
latter has been sealed by the grand primate of Macedonia and Epirus;
and lastly (and perhaps the most important), the record of the sale of
my person and that of my mother to the Armenian merchant El-Kobbir, by
the French officer, who, in his infamous bargain with the Porte, had
reserved as his part of the booty the wife and daughter of his
benefactor, whom he sold for the sum of four hundred thousand francs.’
A greenish pallor spread over the count’s cheeks, and his eyes became
bloodshot at these terrible imputations, which were listened to by the
assembly with ominous silence.
“Haydée, still calm, but with a calmness more dreadful than the anger
of another would have been, handed to the president the record of her
sale, written in Arabic. It had been supposed some of the papers might
be in the Arabian, Romaic, or Turkish language, and the interpreter of
the House was in attendance. One of the noble peers, who was familiar
with the Arabic language, having studied it during the famous Egyptian
campaign, followed with his eye as the translator read aloud:
“‘I, El-Kobbir, a slave-merchant, and purveyor of the harem of his
highness, acknowledge having received for transmission to the sublime
emperor, from the French lord, the Count of Monte Cristo, an emerald
valued at eight hundred thousand francs; as the ransom of a young
Christian slave of eleven years of age, named Haydée, the acknowledged
daughter of the late lord Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of
Vasiliki, his favorite; she having been sold to me seven years
previously, with her mother, who had died on arriving at
Constantinople, by a French colonel in the service of the Vizier Ali