The Count of Monte Cristo

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committed a crime!--Oh, what an alliance--the tiger and the serpent;
worthy wife of such as I am! She must live that my infamy may diminish
hers." And Villefort dashed open the window in front of the carriage.

"Faster, faster!" he cried, in a tone which electrified the coachman.
The horses, impelled by fear, flew towards the house.

"Yes, yes," repeated Villefort, as he approached his home--"yes, that
woman must live; she must repent, and educate my son, the sole survivor,
with the exception of the indestructible old man, of the wreck of
my house. She loves him; it was for his sake she has committed these
crimes. We ought never to despair of softening the heart of a mother who
loves her child. She will repent, and no one will know that she has been
guilty. The events which have taken place in my house, though they now
occupy the public mind, will be forgotten in time, or if, indeed, a few
enemies should persist in remembering them, why then I will add them to
my list of crimes. What will it signify if one, two, or three more are