The Count of Monte Cristo

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whether at home or not, whether in Paris or Cairo, the abbe always left
something to give away, which the valet distributed through this wicket
in his master's name. The other room near the library was a bedroom. A
bed without curtains, four arm-chairs, and a couch, covered with yellow
Utrecht velvet, composed, with a prie-Dieu, all its furniture. Lord
Wilmore resided in Rue Fontaine-Saint-George. He was one of those
English tourists who consume a large fortune in travelling. He hired the
apartment in which he lived furnished, passed only a few hours in the
day there, and rarely slept there. One of his peculiarities was never to
speak a word of French, which he however wrote with great facility."

The day after this important information had been given to the king's
attorney, a man alighted from a carriage at the corner of the Rue
Ferou, and rapping at an olive-green door, asked if the Abbe Busoni were
within. "No, he went out early this morning," replied the valet.

"I might not always be content with that answer," replied the visitor,