The Count of Monte Cristo

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her grandfather's fortune, I do not think that M. d'Epinay will be
frightened at this pecuniary loss. He will, perhaps, hold me in greater
esteem than the money itself, seeing that I sacrifice everything in
order to keep my word with him. Besides, he knows that Valentine is rich
in right of her mother, and that she will, in all probability, inherit
the fortune of M. and Madame de Saint-Meran, her mother's parents, who
both love her tenderly."

"And who are fully as well worth loving and tending as M. Noirtier,"
said Madame de Villefort; "besides, they are to come to Paris in about
a month, and Valentine, after the affront she has received, need not
consider it necessary to continue to bury herself alive by being shut up
with M. Noirtier." The count listened with satisfaction to this tale
of wounded self-love and defeated ambition. "But it seems to me," said
Monte Cristo, "and I must begin by asking your pardon for what I am
about to say, that if M. Noirtier disinherits Mademoiselle de Villefort
because she is going to marry a man whose father he detested, he cannot