The Count of Monte Cristo

Back Forward Menu

"Then he must be playing in the garden; go and see."

"No, sir; Madame de Villefort sent for him half an hour ago; he went
into her room, and has not been down-stairs since." A cold perspiration
burst out on Villefort's brow; his legs trembled, and his thoughts flew
about madly in his brain like the wheels of a disordered watch. "In
Madame de Villefort's room?" he murmured and slowly returned, with one
hand wiping his forehead, and with the other supporting himself
against the wall. To enter the room he must again see the body of his
unfortunate wife. To call Edward he must reawaken the echo of that room
which now appeared like a sepulchre; to speak seemed like violating the
silence of the tomb. His tongue was paralyzed in his mouth.

"Edward!" he stammered--"Edward!" The child did not answer. Where, then,
could he be, if he had entered his mother's room and not since returned?
He stepped forward. The corpse of Madame de Villefort was stretched
across the doorway leading to the room in which Edward must be; those