“Rue de la Fontaine.”
“Rue de la Fontaine!” exclaimed Villefort in an agitated tone; “at what number?”
“No. 28.”
“Then,” cried Villefort, “was it you who bought M. de Saint-Meran’s house!”
“Did it belong to M. de Saint-Meran?” demanded Monte Cristo.
“Yes,” replied Madame de Villefort; “and, would you believe it, count” —
“Believe what?”
“You think this house pretty, do you not?”
“I think it charming.”
“Well, my husband would never live in it.”
“Indeed?” returned Monte Cristo, “that is a prejudice on your part, M. de Villefort, for which I am quite at a loss to account.”
“I do not like Auteuil, sir,” said the procureur, making an evident effort to appear calm.
“But I hope you will not carry your antipathy so far as to deprive me of the pleasure of your company, sir,” said Monte Cristo.
“No, count, — I hope — I assure you I shall do my best,” stammered Villefort.
“Oh,” said Monte Cristo, “I allow of no excuse. On Saturday, at six o’clock. I shall be expecting you, and if you fail to come, I shall think — for how do I know to the contrary? — that this house, which his remained uninhabited for twenty years, must have some gloomy tradition or dreadful legend connected with it.”
“I will come, count, — I will be sure to come,” said Villefort eagerly.
“Thank you,” said Monte Cristo; “now you must permit me to take my leave of you.”
“You said before that you were obliged to leave us, monsieur,” said Madame de Villefort, “and you were about to tell us why when your attention was called to some other subject.”
“Indeed madame,” said Monte Cristo: “I scarcely know if I dare tell you where I am going.”
“Nonsense; say on.”
“Well, then, it is to see a thing on which I have sometimes mused for hours together.”
“What is it?”
“A telegraph. So now I have told my secret.”
“A telegraph?” repeated Madame de Villefort.
“Yes, a telegraph. I had often seen one placed at the end of a road on a hillock, and in the light of the sun its black arms, bending in every direction, always reminded me of the claws of an immense beetle, and I assure you it was never without emotion that I gazed on it, for I could not help thinking how wonderful it was that these various signs should be made to cleave the air with such precision as to convey to the distance of three hundred leagues the ideas and wishes of a man sitting at a table at one end of the line to another man similarly placed at the opposite extremity, and all this effected by a simple act of volition on the part of the sender of the message. I began to think of genii, sylphs, gnomes, in short, of all the ministers of the occult sciences, until I laughed aloud at the freaks of my own imagination. Now, it never occurred to me to wish for a nearer inspection of these large insects, with their long black claws, for I always feared to find under their stone wings some little human genius fagged to death with cabals, factions, and government intrigues. But one fine day I learned that the mover of this telegraph was only a poor wretch, hired for twelve hundred francs a year, and employed all day, not in studying the heavens like an astronomer, or in gazing on the water like an angler, or even in enjoying the privilege of observing the country around him, but all his monotonous life was passed in watching his white-bellied, black-clawed fellow insect, four or five leagues distant from him. At length I felt a desire to study this living chrysalis more closely, and to endeavor to understand the secret part played by these insect-actors when they occupy themselves simply with pulling different pieces of string.”
“And are you going there?”
“I am.”
“What telegraph do you intend visiting? that of the home department, or of the observatory?”
“Oh, no; I should find there people who would force me to understand things of which I would prefer to remain ignorant, and who would try to explain to me, in spite of myself, a mystery which even they do not understand. Ma foi, I should wish to keep my illusions concerning insects unimpaired; it is quite enough to have those dissipated which I had formed of my fellow-creatures. I shall, therefore, not visit either of these telegraphs, but one in the open country where I shall find a good-natured simpleton, who knows no more than the machine he is employed to work.”