The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Are you the first that this hand has stricken? Have you not seen
M. de Saint-Meran, Madame de Saint-Meran, Barrois, all fall? Would not
M. Noirtier also have fallen a victim, had not the treatment he has
been pursuing for the last three years neutralized the effects of the
poison?"

"Oh, heaven," said Valentine; "is this the reason why grandpapa has made
me share all his beverages during the last month?"

"And have they all tasted of a slightly bitter flavor, like that of
dried orange-peel?"

"Oh, yes, yes!"

"Then that explains all," said Monte Cristo. "Your grandfather knows,
then, that a poisoner lives here; perhaps he even suspects the person.
He has been fortifying you, his beloved child, against the fatal