Читать книгу The Count of Monte Cristo, Part Three - Александр Дюма - Страница 6
ОглавлениеACT I, SCENE 1
A young man’s room in the Morcerf residence, arms, pipes, canes. A portrait of Mercédès in her Catalan costume. A portrait of the Count dressed as a Palikar.
(Albert de Morcerf in a Turkish robe lying on a sofa. A little groom lights his long Turkish pipe, Germain enters, carrying letters and newspapers on a plate of porcelain.)
ALBERT
What’s this, Germain?
GERMAIN
The letters and the newspapers, Monsieur le Vicomte.
ALBERT
Have a look.
(taking two letters)
How were these two letters delivered?
GERMAIN
One by the post, the other by Madame Danglars’ valet de chambre.
ALBERT
Tell Madame Danglars that I accept the place that she’s so kind as to offer me in her box—then you can go to Rosa’s yourself. Tell her I will dine with her after leaving the Opera—and that I’ll probably bring a friend with me. You will take her six assorted bottles of wine: Cypress, Sherry, Malaga, and a barrel of oysters from Ostend. Take the oysters to Philippe’s and say they’re for me.
GERMAIN
Monsieur le Vicomte has ordered lunch for this morning?
ALBERT
Yes.
GERMAIN
For what time?
ALBERT
For 10:30.
GERMAIN
How many places?
ALBERT
Six or seven—put on two more rather than two less. By the way, go to Madame, the Countess, and tell her that it is likely that this morning I will have the honor of presenting the Count of Monte Cristo to her. But it seems to me, someone’s there. Go see.
DEBRAY
Can I come in?
ALBERT
What! You Debray, you that I never expect till the last? Do you know you frighten me with your punctuality? Why do I say punctuality? You arrive at 9:55 when the meeting was for 10:30. It’s miraculous! The ministry was overthrown, perhaps?
DEBRAY
My very dear friend, relax. We always totter but we never fall. I spent the night expediting some letters, twenty-five diplomatic dispatches. I went home this morning. I wanted to sleep, but a headache took me when I was relieving myself by riding horseback for an hour. At Boulogne, boredom and hunger swept over me, then I remembered there was a party at your place this morning and here I am. I am hungry—feed me; I am bored; amuse me.
ALBERT
It’s my duty as Amphitryon, dear friend. Germain—a glass of sherry and a bun! While waiting, my dear friend, here are some contraband cigars I invite you to taste them and to challenge your minister to sell us the like.
DEBRAY
This does not concern my minister. Address your complaint to the Revenue Office. Rue de Rivoli, section of indirect imposts. Consider A # 26.
ALBERT
Truly, my dear Lucien, you astonish me by the extent of your acquaintances, but have a cigar.
(The groom presents Lucien with a red candle burning in a little vermillion candle-holder.)
DEBRAY
(lighting a cigar and stretching on the divan)
Ah, dear Vicomte, may you be happy in having nothing to do. In truth, you don’t know your luck.
ALBERT
Eh, what will you be doing then my dear fellow, if you are not doing anything? How’s that? Private secretary to the ministry, thrown into the great European cable and into the petty intrigues of Paris, having kings and better still queens to protect, partners to reunite, elections to control, doing more from your office and with your pen and your telegraph, than Napoleon did with his battlefield, with his sword and his victims—possessing 25,000 pounds of income, outside your official salary, a horse that Châteaubrun has offered you four hundred crowns for, and which you didn’t want to give him, a tailor that never fails you; having the Opera, the Varieties and the Jockey Club—you find nothing in all that to distract you? Then I will try to.
DEBRAY
How’s that?
ALBERT
(rising)
In making you meet a new acquaintance.
DEBRAY
A man or a woman?
ALBERT
A man.
DEBRAY
The devil. I know enough of them already.
ALBERT
But you don’t know the one of whom I am speaking.
DEBRAY
Where’s he come from then? The ends of the world?
ALBERT
Further than that, perhaps.
DEBRAY
I hope he isn’t bringing our lunch?
ALBERT
Rest easy—our lunch is preparing in the maternal kitchen. Decidedly, you must be hungry?
DEBRAY
Yes, I dined yesterday at Mr. de Villefort’s. Have you noticed something, dear friend—one dines very badly at the homes of all the legal people.
ALBERT
Oh, by God! Disparage the dinners of others—this way one may dine well with your ministers.
BEAUCHAMP
(in the antechamber)
He’s waiting for us, right?
ALBERT
Eh! Hold on, I heard the voice of Beauchamp in the antechamber, you can argue and that will make you patient.
GERMAIN
(announcing)
Mr. Beauchamp!
ALBERT
Come in, come in—ferocious writer! Wait, here’s Mr. Debray who detests you without reading you—at least that’s what he says.
BEAUCHAMP
I’m the same. I criticize him without knowing what he does. Good day, my dear Albert! An explanation! I see Debray who drinks sherry and eats biscuits. Are we lunching or having dinner? I have to go to the Chamber. As you see, all is not rosy in our job.
ALBERT
We are lunching. We are waiting only for two more people.
BEAUCHAMP
What type of people?
ALBERT
A gentleman and a traveler.
BEAUCHAMP
Fine! Two hours for the gentleman and one hour for the traveler. I will return for dessert. Keep me some fresh coffee and cigars. I will eat a cutlet at the Senate.
ALBERT
Don’t do anything of the kind, my dear fellow, whether the guests arrive or not, at 10:30 we go to table.
BEAUCHAMP
(looking at his watch)
Ten o’clock! Well, all right, we will test it. Anyway, I am horribly sulky this morning.
ALBERT
Fine, you are like Debray. Now it seems to me if the ministry is sad, the opposition should be gay.
BEAUCHAMP
Ah, that’s because you don’t know what threatens me. I heard Mr. Danglars speak in the Chamber this morning and tonight, at his wife’s, a tragedy of a peer of France.
ALBERT
My dear fellow, this morning you are revoltingly bitter. Recall that the Parisian gossip speaks of a marriage between myself and Miss Eugenie Danglars. I cannot in good conscience let you speak ill of the eloquence of a man who one day must say to me, “You know, Monsieur le Vicomte, that I am giving two millions to my daughter.”
BEAUCHAMP
Come now, Albert, this marriage will never take place. The King is able to make Danglars a baron—can even make him a peer—but he can never make him a gentleman and the Count de Morcerf is too aristocratic a swordsman to consent to a misalliance for two paltry millions.
ALBERT
Two millions, that’s pretty now.
BEAUCHAMP
It’s the social capital for a Boulevard theater or a railway from the Jardin de Plantes to La Rapée.
DEBRAY
Let him say it, Morcerf, and get married. You are marrying the escutcheon of a moneybags, right? Well, what does the rest matter to you? A blason less and a zero more is worth more on this type of escutcheon. You have seven martlets in your coat-of-arms and you will give three to your wife—that leaves you with four. It’s one more than the Duke of Guise who failed to be king of France, and whose cousin-germain was Emperor of Germany.
BEAUCHAMP
Oh, you, Debray, everyone knows your weakness for the whole family.
GERMAIN
(announcing)
The Marquis de Châteaubrun.
(Châteaubrun enters.)
BEAUCHAMP
Good! Here’s the gentleman; we are waiting only for the traveler.
DEBRAY
What! Châteaubrun? But I thought he was in Africa.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
I got back yesterday, my dear Mr. Debray.
ALBERT
And I offer you something today, one can’t be served any hotter, I hope!
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Good day, Albert. Good day, Mr. de Beauchamp. I have to thank you.
BEAUCHAMP
Me?
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Yes. You have consecrated half a column to me and while that doesn’t displease us very much, it flatters us greatly—we men of the world.
BEAUCHAMP
I think so, indeed! Monsieur le Marquis plays in amateur theaters—to look arms crossed like the taking of Constantine; they don’t take Constantine. They beat the retreat; the gentleman uncrosses his arms and performs prodigies.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Yes, but there is a man who makes greater prodigies than I do, since he saved me—and that one you haven’t spoken of.
BEAUCHAMP
Ah, yes, Mr. Maximilian Morel, a Captain of the Spahis, who arrived just as two Arabs—note that four had already been killed—who arrived as two Arabs were getting ready to strangle you. Why the devil do I mention it? He’s a soldier and he’s only doing his job.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
It’s all the same, my dear fellow, on this occasion I recommend him to you and to you, also, my dear Debray.
DEBRAY
To me? But I am in the Interior and this concerns War.
BEAUCHAMP
Bah—between ministries.
DEBRAY
With the result that you are here, right? Good! We are only waiting for the traveler.
BEAUCHAMP
It’s 10:15.
ALBERT
I demand a respite until 10:30. Tell us, Châteaubrun, you should have brought us your savior. I ought to put him face-to-face with mine!
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Your savior, Albert? You have been saved, too? You?
DEBRAY
What can we do to reward these two benefactors of humanity? We have only the Montyon prize!
CHÂTEAUBRUN
And from what part of the world does this savior come to us?
ALBERT
Truly, I would be very embarrassed to say. When I invited him, it was nearly two years ago; it was in Rome, and who can say what road he’s been taking since then?
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Ah, so—then he’s the Wandering Jew?
ALBERT
Perhaps so, indeed.
DEBRAY
Do you think he’s capable of being punctual at least?
ALBERT
I think he’s capable of everything.
BEAUCHAMP
Observe that with the five minutes respite demanded we have only ten minutes.
ALBERT
Well, I’ve profited by speaking to you of my guest.
BEAUCHAMP
Is there a story from a news sheet that you are going to tell me?
ALBERT
Yes and something more curious beside.
BEAUCHAMP
Speak, then—for I see clearly I will miss the Chamber—and I must get back.
ALBERT
I was in Rome—it was two years ago during Carnival.
BEAUCHAMP
We know that.
ALBERT
Yes, but what you don’t know is that I was carried off by bandits.
DEBRAY
There were bandits.
ALBERT
And very hideous, in other words—wonderful. I found them wonderful to inspire fear. These gentlemen had kidnapped me and taken me to a very sad place, that they called the catacombs of Saint Sebastian. I was a prisoner against ransom, a miserly four thousand roman shillings or 26,000 francs. Unfortunately, I had only fifteen hundred; I was at the end of my travels. My credit was exhausted. I wrote to Frantz d’Epinay, who had traveled with me—and knew everything. The question was grave. If he hadn’t arrived at 6:00 in the morning with the four thousand shillings, at precisely 6:10, I was going to have to rejoin the blessed saints and glorious martyrs with whose relics, I had the honor of then finding myself.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Well, Frantz arrived with the four thousand shillings?
ALBERT
No, he came purely and simply accompanied by the guest I announced to you, and who, I hope; I shall have the honor of presenting to you.
DEBRAY
Ah, that’s it. Why here’s a Hercules killing Cacus, like this gentleman, a Perseus delivering Andromeda?
ALBERT
No, he’s a man of my build, a little less.
BEAUCHAMP
He was armed to the teeth?
ALBERT
He didn’t even have knitting needles.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
He paid your ransom then?
ALBERT
He said two words in the ear of the chief bandit and I was free.
BEAUCHAMP
(laughing)
Then he made some excuses for stopping you, right?
ALBERT
Exactly.
DEBRAY
Why then this was Ariosto?
ALBERT
No—it was the Count of Monte Cristo.
DEBRAY
Come on! No one’s called the Count of Monte Cristo.
BEAUCHAMP
Wait, wait! I think I can get you out of this embarrassment, Monte Cristo is a little island near which I passed on my way to Palermo.
ALBERT
Precisely. the man I speak of is King of this grain of sand, of this atom. He must have bought his title of Count somewhere in Tuscany.
BEAUCHAMP
He is rich, your Count?
ALBERT
I should think so. He has a cave full of gold.
BEAUCHAMP
And you have seen this cave?
ALBERT
No, but I’ve heard it spoken of.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Eh, but so have I. One night, in the tent while we were waiting for our supper which did not come.
DEBRAY
Like our lunch today.
ALBERT
Don’t interrupt, Debray. What the devil! We are not in the Senate.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Well, Morel, my savior, had always told me that he was going to hunt in this island of Monte-Cristo, and that there he had been invited to supper by a stranger, but on the condition that he let himself be blindfolded and escorted so he didn’t know where he was.
ALBERT
Well?
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Well—he went down to a cave. There he found a kind of magician who was served by mutes and by women compared to whom Aspasia and Cleopatra were only sluts.
ALBERT
Well, you are throwing ball of twine in my labyrinth, my dear Châteaubrun, the Count of your Captain de Spahis, is mine.
DEBRAY
Truly, my friend, you tell of unlikely things.
ALBERT
That doesn’t prevent my Count from existing.
DEBRAY
Everybody exists, quite a miracle!
ALBERT
Yes, but nobody exists in similar conditions. Not everybody has black slaves, princely galleries, weapons like Casuaba, horses of six million francs a piece, Greek mistresses.
BEAUCHAMP
He has a Greek mistress? Have you seen her?
ALBERT
Seen, with both my eyes, once at the Vallée theater and once when I lunched with the Count. Two times in all.
DEBRAY
So he actually eats, your extraordinary man?
ALBERT
My word, if he eats, it is so little that it is hardly worth speaking of.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
You see—he’s a vampire.
ALBERT
Well, gentleman, you are going to mock me, but I won’t say no.
BEAUCHAMP
Ah, bravo.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Your Count of Monte Cristo is a gallant man in his lost moments, right?
DEBRAY
Yes, except in his little arrangements with Italian bandits.
BEAUCHAMP
Bah! There are no Italian bandits.
DEBRAY
No vampires!
BEAUCHAMP
No Count de Monte Cristo! And the proof, my dear friend, is that the clock’s striking 10:30.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
Admit you are having a nightmare, and let’s go to lunch.
GERMAIN
(opening the door)
His Excellence—the Count of Monte Cristo.
MONTE CRISTO
(entering)
Punctuality is the politeness of Kings, I believe one of your sovereigns pretended, but whatever may be their wish, it isn’t always that of travelers. Now, my dear Vicomte I hope you will excuse, in favor of my good intentions, the two or three seconds delay I have taken in arriving at the meeting. Five hundred leagues are not without some inconveniences, in France especially where it is forbidden, it seems, to beat the coachmen.
ALBERT
Count, I was just occupied in announcing your visit to some of my friends that I had brought here on the occasion of the promise you had kindly given me in Rome of coming to visit me in Paris, on June 25 at 10:30 in the morning. I have the honor of presenting them to you—they are the Marquis de Châteaubrun whose noble ancestors include a dozen peers of the realm and whose ancestors had their place at King Arthur’s roundtable. Mr. Lucien Debray, private secretary to the ministry. Mr. Beauchamp, a terrible journalist—terror of the government and delight of his friends.
MONTE CRISTO
Gentlemen, permit me, I beg you, an admission which will be my excuse for all the inconveniences I may ever cause. I am a stranger, but a stranger to such a degree that this is the first time I have ever been to Paris. French life is completely unknown to me, and until the present moment, I’ve practiced an oriental life, the most antipathetic to all Parisian traditions—I beg you to excuse me if you find me too Turkish, too Neapolitan, too Arabic.
ALBERT
And, I, Count, I am fearful that the cuisine of the Rue Helder won’t be to your liking. I should have asked you your taste and prepared a plate to your fancy.
MONTE CRISTO
If you knew me better, sir, you wouldn’t bother yourself with such an almost humiliating case for a traveler like me, who has successively lived on macaroni in Naples, polenta in Milan, olla-podrida in Valencia, Pilaf in Constantinople, Karic in Calcutta and birds nests in Canton. There is no cuisine for a Cosmopolitan like me. I eat everything everywhere. Only I eat little and today you will excuse me if I don’t eat at all.
ALBERT
What? If you don’t eat at all?
MONTE CRISTO
I was obliged to go out of my way to get some information in the environs of Nimes with the result that I was a little delayed and I didn’t want to stop to eat.
ALBERT
So you ate in your carriage then?
MONTE CRISTO
No, I slept—which is what happens to me when I am bored and lack the courage to distract myself and when I’m hungry without the desire to eat.
BEAUCHAMP
You order yourself to sleep then?
MONTE CRISTO
Exactly.
DEBRAY
The Count has a recipe for this!
MONTE CRISTO
Infallible, sir.
ALBERT
And can one learn what this recipe is?
MONTE CRISTO
Oh, my God, yes, Vicomte—it’s a mixture of excellent opium that I went to look for in China to be certain it was pure and some of the finest hashish which is grown in the Orient. One mixes these two ingredients in equal portions and makes a sort of pill that’s swallowed in a moment when needed—ten minutes later, the effect is produced.
BEAUCHAMP
And you carry this on you?
MONTE CRISTO
Always!
BEAUCHAMP
Would it be indiscreet, sir, to ask to see these precious pills?
MONTE CRISTO
No, sir.
(He takes a little box made of a single emerald from his pocket.)
DEBRAY
And this is your cook who fixes you up so regally?
MONTE CRISTO
Oh, no sir, I don’t entrust my purest pleasures to unworthy hands. I am a good enough chemist to prepare my pills myself.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
That’s an admirable emerald, the most beautiful I have ever seen, although my mother has family jewels remarkable enough.
MONTE CRISTO
I had three such, sir. I gave one to the Great Turk, who had it mounted on his saber—the other to the Holy Father which he had encrusted on his tiara, next to an emerald a little like it, but less beautiful that had been given to his predecessor Pius VII by the Emperor Napoleon, I kept the third for myself—only I had it cut which cut its value in half but which made it more useful for the purpose I wanted it for.
DEBRAY
And what did these two sovereigns give you to deserve such magnificent gifts?
MONTE CRISTO
The Grand Turk freed a woman, our Holy Father spared the life of a man, with the result that twice in my existence, I have been more powerful than if God had let me be born on the steps of a throne.
(Germain enters and speaks low to Albert)
DEBRAY
What’s wrong? Is it the lunch?
ALBERT
Yes, sir. Morcerf, before leaving for the Senate knowing that you were here—wanted to thank you.
MONTE CRISTO
Well, sir, nothing simpler. I would be a bad guest, leave me here. I will have, if Mr. Albert permits, the honor of receiving Mr. Morcerf here.
ALBERT
Marvelous—but don’t go disappear without my knowing.
MONTE CRISTO
Why, sir? I belong to you and promise not to retake my liberty until you have given it to me.
BEAUCHAMP
How he says all this! He is decidedly a great Lord!
DEBRAY
A foreign lord.
CHÂTEAUBRUN
A great lord in all countries.
ALBERT
You will excuse us, Count, but these gentlemen are dying of hunger and my father is coming down.
MONTE CRISTO
Go, sir, go.
(The men go into the dining room.)
MONTE CRISTO
I am going to see him—and her, perhaps, silence, my heart—it’s old hatred! Silence my soul! For it’s old love!
(Morcerf enters.)
ALBERT
Father, I have the honor to present to you the Count of Monte Cristo, this generous friend, whom I had the happiness to meet in the difficult circumstances you know of.
MORCERF
The gentleman is welcome among us—and he has given our house a unique service which solicits our eternal recognition in conserving its only heir.
(He points Monte Cristo to a seat.)
ALBERT
Can I go?
MORCERF
Go join your friends.
ALBERT
(to Monte Cristo)
You’ll excuse me—?
MONTE CRISTO
Certainly.
(Albert leaves.)
MORCERF
Madame the Countess was dressing sir, when my son informed her we had the joy of receiving your visit. She will be down and will be here in ten minutes.
MONTE CRISTO
It’s a great honor for me, Count, to be from the day of my arrival put in touch with a man whose merit equals his reputation and about whom, Fortune, justly for once, has made no error. But hasn’t it yet, in the plains of Mitidja and in the mountains of Atlas, a Marshall’s baton to offer you?
MORCERF
Oh, I left the service, sir. Named Peer of France under the Restoration, I was in the first Algerian Campaign. I could still pretend to a superior office if the elder Royal branch were still on the throne, but the events which occurred forced me to give my resignation. When one has earned one’s epaulets on the battlefield one doesn’t know how to maneuver in the slippery terrain of the salons; I gave up the sword; I am thrown into politics I am devoted to industry. I study the useful arts. During the twenty years I was in the service, I had that intention but I never had the time.
MONTE CRISTO
It’s ideas like these, Count, which show the superiority of your nation over other countries. Gentlemen drawn from an illustrious house, possessing a great fortune, you at first consented to earn your first promotions as an obscure soldier—this is very rare! Then, after becoming a general, a peer of France you agree to begin a second apprenticeship without any ambition other than to be useful one day to your fellow creatures. Ah, sir—that is truly fine; I will say more—it is sublime!
MORCERF
(bowing)
Sir!
MONTE CRISTO
Alas, we don’t do it that way in Italy. We are born according to our race and type; and we even cling to foliage and feudal vineyards, and often remain useless all our lives.
MORCERF
But, sir, for a man of your merit, Italy is not a fatherland and France extends her arms to you—answer her call. France treats its own children badly, but it welcomes foreigners grandly.
MONTE CRISTO
Oh, sir, it’s clear you don’t know me. My aspirations are not worldly. I desire no honors and take only those which can be placed on a passport.
MORCERF
You have been master of your future and you have chosen a way strewn with flowers.
MONTE CRISTO
Exactly, sir.
(The Countess enters. She has heard these last words. She shivers and leans on the casing of the door.)
MORCERF
(without seeing her)
If I weren’t afraid of tiring you, sir, I would have taken you to the Senate. There is a curious sitting today for anyone who doesn’t know our modern Senators.
MONTE CRISTO
I would be very grateful, sir, if you would renew this offer another time, today, they flattered me with the hope of being presented to the Countess, and I will wait—
(seeing the Countess)
But pardon—isn’t this she, herself?
MORCERF
(to Monte Cristo)
Yes.
(rising, to Mercédès)
What’s the matter? You are horribly pale? Are you sick?
(Monte Cristo remains motionless—hand on his heart.)
MERCÉDÈS
No, sir, but I experienced a strong emotion I admit in seeing for the first time the one but for whose intervention we should have been in tears and in mourning.
(advancing towards Monte Cristo)
Sir, I owe you the life of my son, and for this good deed, I bless you. Now, I thank you for this pleasure you do me in giving me the occasion to thank you as I have blessed you—meaning from the bottom of my heart.
MONTE CRISTO
(bowing)
Madame, you reward me very generously for a quite simple action. To save a man, to spare a father from torment, to spare the sensibility of a woman, is not to do a good deed, but merely to accomplish an act of humanity.
MERCÉDÈS
It is lucky for my son, sir, to have you for a friend and I thank God who has arranged things so.
MORCERF
Madame, I have already made my excuses to the Count for being obliged to leave him, and you will repeat them, I beg you. But we have an extraordinary sitting—it opens at 10:00 and at 11:00 I must speak.
MERCÉDÈS
Go, sir, I will try to make our guest forget your absence.
MORCERF
(bowing)
Count.
MONTE CRISTO
Sir!
(Morcerf leaves.)
MERCÉDÈS
(in an emotional tone)
Will the Count of Monte Cristo, do us the honor of spending the rest of the day with us?
MONTE CRISTO
Thanks, Madame, and you see in me, believe me, one who cannot appreciate your offer more. But I left my traveling carriage at your door. How did I settle in Paris? I am unaware. Where am I staying? I hardly know. It’s a slight uncertainty, I know, but nonetheless appreciable.
MERCÉDÈS
We will have this pleasure another time, at least, you will promise me.
(ringing)
Tell my son that the Count is going to leave.
(to a servant)
MONTE CRISTO
(regarding the Count’s portrait)
This is a portrait of the Count de Morcerf, Madame?
MERCÉDÈS
Yes, sir.
MONTE CRISTO
He’s wearing a Greek uniform?
MERCÉDÈS
My husband was, for three years in the service of Ali Pasha of Janina—he was one of his last followers to remain faithful to him and he proudly admits that our small fortune came to us through the liberality of that great man who remembered him at the moment of his death.
MONTE CRISTO
(bowing to Mercédès side)
As for this one, Madame?
MERCÉDÈS
You are looking at mine—mine when I was young, alas.
MONTE CRISTO
It’s a fantasy costume you were wearing there, if I am not deceived—that of the Catalan Colony in the environs of Marseille.
MERCÉDÈS
Yes—the Count once saw me in this costume, and since our marriage, he wanted this pictures as a souvenir.
MONTE CRISTO
I understand—whoever has seen you in this costume must never forget you.
ALBERT
(entering)
Here I am, mother.
MERCÉDÈS
(falling into an armchair)
It was just in time, I was suffocating.
ALBERT
What! You are leaving us already, my dear Count?
MONTE CRISTO
I gave my reasons for my prompt departure to the Countess—reasons which she kindly appreciated.
ALBERT
Go on then, I won’t keep you longer. I don’t want our gratitude to become an indication of an importunity. But I beg you, let me try to render you in Paris the same hospitality I received from you in Rome. Let me put my coach and my horses at your disposal until you have time to obtain your own equipage.
MONTE CRISTO
A thousand thanks for your kindness Vicomte, but I think that if Mr. Bertuccio my Intendant has been agreeably employed during the five days he preceded me here, I shall find at the door a carriage fully harnessed. Only tell me, am I far from the Rue Mont Blanc?
ALBERT
A hundred paces. Are you going to the Rue Mont Blanc after leaving here?
MONTE CRISTO
Yes, to the home of Mr. Danglars, a banker.
MERCÉDÈS
(excitedly)
You know Mr. Danglars?
MONTE CRISTO
No, Madame, not at all. I know no one. I have letters of credit drawn on him—is he good?
ALBERT
Excellent.
(half voice)
He is my future father-in-law.
MONTE CRISTO
Oh! As that’s the case! My money relations and my relations of friendship won’t leave the family.
ALBERT
Thanks.
MONTE CRISTO
(bowing)
Madame.
ALBERT
(wanting to accompany him)
Allow me, dear Count—
MONTE CRISTO
(stopping him)
Oh—for goodness sake.
(Monte Cristo leaves)
ALBERT
(turning to Mercédès)
Ah! My God—what’s wrong? Do you feel ill?
MERCÉDÈS
In fact, I am a little indisposed. These roses, these tuberoses, these orange flowers, release, during the first hot spell to which they are unaccustomed, very violent perfumes that I’m not used to.
ALBERT
Germain! Germain! Remove these flowers right away.
MERCÉDÈS
What’s this name of Monte Cristo that the Count bears. Is it a family name, or place name or simply a title?
ALBERT
It’s a title, I think, mother, that’s all.
MERCÉDÈS
His manners are excellent, at least so far as I can judge from the short time he spent here.
ALBERT
Perfect, mother.
MERCÉDÈS
You saw, my dear Albert—pardon—it’s a mother’s question I am asking you—you saw Monte Cristo in his home?
ALBERT
Yes.
MERCÉDÈS
You are worldly, full of tact, extraordinary at your age. Tell me, do you think the Count is what he appears?
ALBERT
And what does he appear to be mother?
MERCÉDÈS
You said it yourself, just now—a great lord.
ALBERT
I will admit to you I don’t have a fixed opinion about him. I think he’s Maltese.
MERCÉDÈS
I don’t ask you about his origins—I am asking you about his person.
ALBERT
But you ought to be able to see. Thirty-five or thirty-six, mother.
MERCÉDÈS
(to herself)
Thirty-five or thirty-six—it’s impossible. Did you notice how pale he is?
ALBERT
Yes, and I asked him the cause of this pallor—he told me that having been taken by the Barberry pirates, he was a prisoner for a long time in a dungeon.
MERCÉDÈS
Prisoner! And this man is friendly to you, Albert?
ALBERT
I believe so, mother.
MERCÉDÈS
And you like him, too?
ALBERT
Yes, although this friendship, I admit it, is mixed with a kind of terror.
MERCÉDÈS
Albert, I’ve always put you on guard against new acquaintances—now you are a man and can give me advice yourself. Still, I will repeat to you: be careful.
ALBERT
Still, for the advice to be profitable to me there must be something for me to be on guard against. The Count doesn’t gamble. The Count only drinks water. The Count is declared to be so rich that if he sneezes he would only cover me with money. What should I fear from the Count?
MERCÉDÈS
You are right and my fears are crazy, especially as they are for a man who has saved your life when he could have let you perish. But you know, my dear Albert, a mother’s heart is full of vague fears. Has the Count ever taken your hand?
ALBERT
Never, and I’ve noticed it.
MERCÉDÈS
Has he ever called you his friend?
ALBERT
Never.
MERCÉDÈS
Yet has he ever eaten at the same table with you, when you were his guest—when he was yours?
ALBERT
Never and even today as you saw—
MERCÉDÈS
Yes, yes, I saw—listen, I am giving a ball in three days, bring the Count, it’s important.
ALBERT
I will bring him, mother—I don’t think he will refuse to come.
MERCÉDÈS
If he comes, the rest is my concern and I will know what to do about it. Goodbye, Albert. Try to get the Count to be your friend.
CURTAIN
