ike a drunken man
back to his arm-chair, into which he sank. As he did so, Waldmann,
Siebecker and Bouche-de-Miel, who immediately rushed forward, seized him
and held him there with the strength of iron. Waldmann slipped a gag
into his mouth and Siebecker bound him firmly to the chair with a stout
cord he took from his pocket. The binding accomplished, the robbers
quitted their hold of the Count and turned in search of the plunder they
had come for--the millions of Monte-Cristo!

Suddenly there was a loud cry. It came from Bouche-de-Miel. The others
turned and looked at him, their pistols in their hands. He was staring
at a white-robed woman, who stood like a ghost in the open doorway of
the study. At that juncture another door opened and Ali, the faithful
Nubian, followed by all the valets of the household, sprang into the
room, falling upon the bewildered scoundrels ere they had recovered from
their surprise. There was a brief struggle, but the servants were
unarmed, and the robbers, disengaging themselves from the clutches of
their adversaries, kept them at bay with their pistols and slowly backed
from the apartment. In the conflict, however, Bouche-de-Miel's mask was
torn from his face, and his countenance was no sooner visible than the
white-robed woman ran towards him with outstretched arms, breathlessly
exclaiming:

"My father! my father!"

Bouche-de-Miel motioned her from him; then he moved as if to approach
her, urged on by a feeling he was altogether unable to master; but
Waldmann, still keeping his pistol pointed at Ali and his companions,
seized him by the arm with a grip of iron and drew him away. The foiled
robbers succeeded in making their escape from the house, and the garden.

The Count of Monte-Cristo had been unbound and ungagged by Ali when the
robbers had left the study. Alarmed by the unwonted noise and commotion,
Captain de Morcerf, Zuleika and Mlle. d' Armilly had appeared upon the
scene, but too late to witness the conflict with the miscreants. In a
few words the Count explained to them what had happened. Zuleika glanced
at Mlle. d' Armilly as if she suspected that the strange beggar of that
morning had something to do with this midnight invasion of their home;
Louise looked uneasy and agitated, but preserved a stony silence.

The white-robed woman still stood as if stupefied. Mlle. d' Armilly went
to her and asked, solicitously:

"Eugenie, what is the matter?"

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