The Count of Monte Cristo

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fortune to her son?"

"How could I make such a proposition, especially to a woman who always
professes to be so entirely disinterested?"

"Valentine, I have always regarded our love in the light of something
sacred; consequently, I have covered it with the veil of respect, and
hid it in the innermost recesses of my soul. No human being, not even my
sister, is aware of its existence. Valentine, will you permit me to make
a confidant of a friend and reveal to him the love I bear you?"

Valentine started. "A friend, Maximilian; and who is this friend? I
tremble to give my permission."

"Listen, Valentine. Have you never experienced for any one that sudden
and irresistible sympathy which made you feel as if the object of it had
been your old and familiar friend, though, in reality, it was the first