The Count of Monte Cristo

Back Forward Menu

appeared to exist. The horse was of Hungarian breed, and ambled along
at an easy pace. His rider was a priest, dressed in black, and wearing a
three-cornered hat; and, spite of the ardent rays of a noonday sun, the
pair came on with a fair degree of rapidity.

Having arrived before the Pont du Gard, the horse stopped, but whether
for his own pleasure or that of his rider would have been difficult
to say. However that might have been, the priest, dismounting, led his
steed by the bridle in search of some place to which he could secure
him. Availing himself of a handle that projected from a half-fallen
door, he tied the animal safely and having drawn a red cotton
handkerchief, from his pocket, wiped away the perspiration that streamed
from his brow, then, advancing to the door, struck thrice with the end
of his iron-shod stick. At this unusual sound, a huge black dog came
rushing to meet the daring assailant of his ordinarily tranquil
abode, snarling and displaying his sharp white teeth with a determined
hostility that abundantly proved how little he was accustomed to