World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 106 Alfalfa Field (2)
"Your words are logical, Valentine, and you may say anything, but I will never change this instinctive feeling. I think this man must be very interested in my future happiness, and sometimes, he His deep eyes seemed to see everything, and his strong hand controlled everything."

"Then he is a god-man?" said Valentine, smiling.

"Really," said Maximilian, "I can't help feeling many times that he has a foreknowledge ... especially of good things."

"Oh," said Valentine sadly, "you must let me see him, Maximilian, and I will ask him to tell me whether I can be loved enough to at last offset my sufferings."

"My poor friend, you already know him."

"I?"

"Yes, he is the one who saved the lives of your stepmother and your brother."

"The Count of Monte Cristo?"

"it's him."

"Ah," cried Valentine, "he is already a friend of Madame de Villefort, and he cannot be my friend."

"The Count is a friend of your stepmother, Valentine? My instincts cannot be so wrong. You must be."

"Oh, you should know, Maximilian! It is no longer Edward, but the count who controls our family. Madame de Villefort welcomes him most, and regards his learning as the culmination of human knowledge." My father admired him very much, do you understand, it is admiration! My father also said that he had never heard such a lofty idea expounded so forcefully. Edward has regarded the earl as an idol of worship, although he is afraid of the earl. Pair of dark eyes, but as soon as Edward sees the count approaching, Edward goes to wrestle his hand away, and always finds some wonderful toy. Mr. Monte Cristo is not visiting my father at my house, nor is it like visiting Madame de Villefort , rather swaying others as always in his apartment."

"Ah, my dear Valentine, if things are as you say, you must have realized, or will soon realize, what grace he has. He met Mercere Albert in Italy, and sent him Rescued from robbers; he met Mrs. Tangra and sent her a generous gift; your stepmother and your brother passed their door, and his Nubian black slave saved the lives of both mother and child. He obviously has a gift for moving things. I've never seen such a combination of rustic taste and grandeur, and his smile is so sweet that when he smiles at me, I don't understand why people should think him How bitter is his smile. Oh, tell me, Valentine, has he ever smiled at you like that? You must be lucky if he did."

"Me?" said the girl. "Oh, my God! Maximilian, he doesn't even look at me, or rather, if I happen to run into him, he turns his eyes away from me. Oh, he doesn't A magnanimous man, indeed! Or his gaze is not deep enough to penetrate the secrets of his heart, and you are wrong about his gaze, because if he is really a magnanimous person, since he sees that although I am of the same family, Together, but very lonely and depressed, he should use his power to control others to protect me. And, listen to you, he is as warm as the sun, so he should give me a ray of his brilliance, and let me shine Warms my heart. You say he loves you, Maximilian. Hey, my God! Do you know what it is? A handsome officer like you, with a thick, bushy moustache, With a long saber hanging from your waist, everyone smiles at you, but everyone feels that it is safe to crush a poor girl who can only cry and swallow."

"Oh, Valentine! You are mistaken, indeed."

"If not, Maximilian, if he had been more polite to me, that is to say, if he really wanted to meddle in other people's houses like some people do, he should do me a favor, like Smile at me, just once, as you praised so much. But he doesn't smile, he sees my pain, he knows I'm useless to him, so he ignores me. And who knows, If he wants to please my father, Madame de Villefort, or my brother, won't he try to persecute me by all means? Well, to tell you the truth, I'm not a girl to be despised lightly, you told me so. Oh, please forgive me," the girl continued, seeing Maximilian's expression after hearing these words, "it's my fault, I told you so much about him just now, but in fact it was not what I wanted to say Really, as you said just now, I also saw that he can control people, and it has come to me, but you have also seen that the intention is good, but the method is harmful and useless. It can only make people Dispirited."

"Well, then, Valentine," said Morrel, with a sigh, "there will be no more to say about it, and I have no desire to say anything to him."

"Ah, my dear friend," said Valentine, "I have hurt you, I can see it. Oh, I long to hold your hand, and I beg you to forgive me! If you will I am persuaded, and that is what I wish for. Tell me, what has the count done for you?"

"To tell you the truth, Valentine, you want me to tell you what the count has done for me, and it's really difficult for me. Mingli has not helped me at all, and I know it well. That's why I told you just now. But my friendship with him was purely instinctive, and never seriously considered. What does the sun do for me? No, the sun keeps me warm, and with it I can see you, that's all. What use is this or that fragrance to me? No, the fragrance delights one of my senses, and as to why I am so fond of this fragrance when people ask me, I cannot say otherwise. I am very grateful for his friendship. Just like his friendship with me, it's all incredible. A mysterious voice told me that we met and became friends like this, there is something more than accident. I think his most ordinary words and deeds, to his deepest His considerations and my words and deeds and my considerations are inseparable. You are laughing at me again, Valentine, since I have known him, I have somehow felt that all my happiness comes from his intentions. However, I I’ve lived for 30 years and I’ve never needed someone to protect me, right? I don’t care if I want someone to protect me or not, so let me give you an example. He invited me to have dinner at his place on Saturday, judging from our current friendship , This is a reasonable thing. But if you listen again, what kind of news did I get? He also invited your father and your stepmother to go, and I will see them. Who knows what this meeting will have in the future? What is the effect? ​​These circumstances seem ordinary on the surface, but I always feel that there is something unexpected in it, and I get a strange confidence from it. I said to myself, the Earl is a penetrating man Strange man, he deliberately arranged for me to meet M. and Madame de Villefort. I can swear to you that sometimes I really watch his eyes carefully to see if he guesses the love in my heart."

"My dear friend," said Valentine, "if I heard you say such plausible things, I would really say that you are dreaming and worrying about your sanity. You have said it all." What! What can you think of this meeting as anything other than a coincidence? Seriously, think again. My father, who lives in seclusion, tried several times to decline the invitation, but Madame de Villefort insisted on I went to see this rich man, and managed to persuade my father to go with her. No, no, listen to me, except you, Maximilian, all I have in this world for help is my immobile Grandfather, my only support is the ghost of my poor mother!"

"I think your words are right, Valentine, and I think your thinking is logical," said Maximilian, "but your gentle voice, which has always been powerful to me, has not convinced me today. .”

"Your words do not convince me," said Valentine, "to tell you the truth, if you can give no other example, then I..."

"There is another example," said Maximilian hesitantly, "but to be honest, Valentine, I have to admit that this is even more absurd than the example just now."

"That's all right," said Valentine, laughing.

"But," continued Morrel, "I think it is equally telling. I have my own inspirations, I have my own ideas, and I have survived ten years in the army, sometimes by improvisation. In a flash of thought, I suddenly leaned forward or backward, and the bullet that should have hit just passed me by."

"My dear Maximilian, why don't you attribute the miss to my prayers? When you were there, I prayed to God and to my mother, not for myself, but for you."

"You have been like this since I have known you," said Morrel, smiling, "but how can I explain it before I have known you, Valentine?"

"Well, then, since you won't accept my favours, you wretch, give me an example of what you admit to be absurd."

"Excellent! Look through the cracks in the planks, and look over there, under this tree, is the new horse I rode today."

"Oh, what a fine horse!" cried Valentine. "Why don't you lead the horse to the gate? I can talk to it, and it will understand."

"You see, it is indeed a fine and expensive horse," said Maximilian. "Well, as you know, my fortune is limited, Valentine, and I am what people call a sensible horse." Well, I saw this steed at a horse dealer called Medea, which I named him. I asked what the price was, and the dealer said 4500 francs. You can imagine Well, I just had to look at this fine horse a few more times, and finally went away empty-handed. To tell you the truth, I was really upset, because the horse looked at me affectionately, and the horse's head was rubbing on me, When I rode it, it spun around in a very graceful and charming way. I happened to have some friends at my house this evening, M. Chateau-Renaud, M. Debray, and five or six others. Libertines, you're lucky you don't know them, don't even have to know their names. They offer to play cards, which I never play because I don't have much money to lose and I'm not poor enough to win But it was at my house, you know, and there was nothing to do but call the servant to get the cards, so I had to call the servant to get the cards. Just as I was sitting down to play, M. Monte Cristo came and sat down too. So we played cards together, and I won. I'm sorry to say, Valentine, but I won 5000 francs. We played until midnight, but I couldn't stay, so I jumped on a I came to the horse stable I had been to. My heart was pounding, and I rang the doorbell frantically. The person who came to open the door for me must have thought I was crazy. As soon as the door opened, I rushed to the opposite side. , went into the stable, and looked towards the manger. Ah, great, Medea was grazing there, I picked up a pair of saddles, put the saddle on Medea's back with my own hands, and put the bridle on her , Medea was very docile and obediently at my mercy. Then, I put 4500 francs into the hands of the stupefied horse dealer, and rode back, or rather, I rode The horse slipped all night on the Champs-Elysées. Ah, I saw that the count's window was still lighted, and I really thought I saw the count's figure behind the curtain. Really, Valentine, I dare to swear, The count knew I wanted the horse, so he lost on purpose so I could win him."

"My dear Maximilian," said Valentine, "you are too fantastic... You will not love me long... A man so devoted to poetry cannot be lonely and guard our kind." I'm languishing in uninterested love... But, God! Listen, they're calling me... Do you hear that?"

"Ah, Valentine," said Maximilian, "through this crack in the wood... put out your little finger, and let me kiss you."

"Maximilian, we have already agreed, we only need to hear the voice of each other and see the figure."

"Then as you please, Valentine."

"If I do what you want, you will be very happy?"

"Oh, of course!"

Valentine climbed into a chair, and instead of putting her little finger through a crack in the boards, stretched her whole hand through the partition.With a cry of surprise, Maximilian immediately jumped onto a stone pile, took the longing hand, and pressed his hot lips tightly.But in an instant the little hand slipped from his, and the young man only heard Valentina leave in a hurry, and the girl was probably dazed and bewildered by the passion she had just experienced.

(End of this chapter)