Stories to remember - Chapter 36

EDMOND AND MERCEDES

When Albert had gone, Monte Cristo sat in his room for some time, deep in thought. Then he called to Ali.

'Bring me my special pistols in the ivory case, Ali,' he said.

Ali brought the box to his master. Monte Cristo looked carefully at them. They were pistols which he had had made specially for practice shooting indoors. He took one in his hand and aimed it at a small target on the wall. Monte Cristo was an expert shot, second to none, but tomorrow morning his life would depend on how well he could shoot. It would still be a good thing to have a little practice now.

Just as he was about to shoot, a servant came into the room to say that there was a visitor. Behind the servant, outside the door, stood a veiled woman. She saw Monte Cristo holding the pistol in his hand, and she rushed into the room. The Count made a sign for the servant to go.

'Who are you, madame?' said Monte Cristo.

The woman fell to her knees before the Count.

'Edmond, you will not kill my son!'

Monte Cristo stepped back in surprise.

'Madame Morcerf, what name did you use just now?'

'Your name,' she cried, throwing off her veil. 'The name which I, alone, have not forgotten. Edmond, it is not Madame Morcerf who has come to you now; it is Mercedes.'

'Mercedes is dead, madame,' said Monte Cristo. 'I know of no one, now, of that name.'

'Mercedes is alive, Edmond, and only she remembers you. She knew it was you as soon as she saw you. She has been watching you all the time you have been in Paris. She knows why the Count Morcerf has been disgraced.'

'You should say Fernand, madame,' replied Monte Cristo. 'If we are remembering names, let us remember them all.'

'Ah, you see, I am not mistaken. That is why I am asking you to spare my son.'

'It is your son who has challenged me, madame; not the other way around.'

'Because he sees in you the cause of his father's misfortunes.'

'Madame, you are mistaken. They are not misfortunes. They are a punishment. I am not striking your husband; it is God who is punishing him.'

'Do you think you represent God?' cried Mercedes. Why do you remember what everyone else has forgotten? What does it matter to you what happened in Janina? Fernand Mondego did you no harm then.'

'You are right, madame. That is no concern of mine. That is a matter between the French officer and Haydee, the daughter of Ali Tebelin. But I am not revenging myself on Colonel Fernand Mondego, nor on Fernand the Count Morcerf, but on Fernand of Marseilles, the husband of Mercedes.'

'Then it is me you should punish, not my husband. It's my fault that I wasn't brave enough to wait alone for you when you were away.'

'But why was I away and why were you alone?'

'Because you had been arrested, Edmond, and were a prisoner.'

'And why was I arrested? Why was I a prisoner?'

'I don't know,' said Mercedes.

'You do not, madame; at least, I hope not. But I will tell you.'

The Count went to a desk. He unlocked it and took an old letter from a drawer. It was the same letter which Monte Cristo, when he was disguised as Lord Wilmore, had taken from the prison register on the day he visited the Inspector of Prisons in Marseilles.

'The reason I was arrested and made a prisoner, was because a man named Danglars wrote this letter, and Fernand himself posted it,' he said.

Mercedes, trembling took the letter. It was yellow with age, but she could still read it :

The state prosecutor is informed that Edmond Dante, mate of the ship Pharaon, which arrived at Marseilles this morning after having touched the island of Elba, has been given a letter from Napoleon addressed to the Bonapartist committee in Paris. If he is arrested, this letter will be found either on him or at his father's house, or in his cabin on the Pharaon.

She looked at Monte Cristo. 'And because of this letter you were arrested?' she said.

'Yes, madame,' replied the Count, 'and for fourteen years I remained in a cell in the Chateau d'If. You didn't know that, did you? You also didn't know that, every day of those fourteen years, I vowed to take my revenge. When I came out of the prison, I found that you had married Fernand, and that my father had died of hunger.'

'And now you are taking your revenge,' whispered Mercedes.

'Yes,' said Monte Cristo. 'I am taking my revenge.'