rushed through the door, which I
double-locked, carrying off the key."

"Ah," said Monte Cristo "it seems to me this was nothing but murder and
robbery."

"No, your excellency," returned Bertuccio; "it was a vendetta followed
by restitution."

"And was the sum a large one?"

"It was not money."

"Ah, I recollect," replied the count; "did you not say something of an
infant?"

"Yes, excellency; I hastened to the river, sat down on the bank, and
with my knife forced open the lock of the box. In a fine linen cloth
was wrapped a new-born child. Its purple visage, and its violet-colored
hands showed that it had perished from suffocation, but as it was not
yet cold, I hesitated to throw it into the water that ran at my feet.
After a moment I fancied that I felt a slight pulsation of the heart,
and as I had been assistant at the hospital at Bastia, I did what a
doctor would have done--I inflated the lungs by blowing air into them,
and at the expiration of a quarter of an hour, it began to breathe, and
cried feebly. In my turn I uttered a cry, but a cry of joy. 'God has
not cursed me then,' I cried, 'since he permits me to save the life of a
human creature, in exchange for the life I have taken away.'"

"And what did you do with the child?" asked Monte Cristo. "It was an
embarrassing load for a man seeking to escape."

"I had not for a moment the idea of keeping it, but I knew that at Paris
there was an asylum where they receive such creatures. As I passed the
city gates I declared that I had found the child on the road, and I
inquired where the asylum was; the box confirmed my statement, the linen
proved that the infant belonged to wealthy parents, the blood with which
I was covered might have proceeded from the child as well as from any
one else. No objection was raised, but they pointed out the asylum,
which was situated at the upper end of the Rue d'Enfer, and after having
taken the precaution of cutting the linen in two pieces, so that one
of the two letters which marked it was on the piece wrapped around the
child, while the other remained in my possession, I rang the bell, and
fled with all speed. A fortnight after I was at Rogliano, and I said to
Assunta,--'Console thyself, sister; Israel is dead, but he is avenged.'
She demanded what I meant, and when I had told her all,--'Giovanni,'
said she, 'you should have brought this child with you; we would have
replaced the parents it has lost, have called it Benedetto