are an excellent
woman, and heaven will bless you.'"

"This," said Monte Cristo, "is less correct than your philosophy,--it is
only faith."

"Alas, your excellency is right," replied Bertuccio, "and God made this
infant the instrument of our punishment. Never did a perverse nature
declare itself more prematurely, and yet it was not owing to any fault
in his bringing up. He was a most lovely child, with large blue eyes, of
that deep color that harmonizes so well with the blond complexion; only
his hair, which was too light, gave his face a most singular expression,
and added to the vivacity of his look, and the malice of his smile.
Unfortunately, there is a proverb which says that 'red is either
altogether good or altogether bad.' The proverb was but too correct
as regarded Benedetto, and even in his infancy he manifested the
worst disposition. It is true that the indulgence of his foster-mother
encouraged him. This child, for whom my poor sister would go to the
town, five or six leagues off, to purchase the earliest fruits and
the most tempting sweetmeats, preferred to Palma grapes or Genoese
preserves, the chestnuts stolen from a neighbor's orchard, or the dried
apples in his loft, when he could eat as well of the nuts and apples
that grew in my garden. One day, when Benedetto was about five or six,
our neighbor Vasilio, who, according to the custom of the country, never
locked up his purse or his valuables--for, as your excellency knows,
there are no thieves in Corsica--complained that he had lost a louis
out of his purse; we thought he must have made a mistake in counting
his money, but he persisted in the accuracy of his statement. One day,
Benedetto, who had been gone from the house since morning, to our great
anxiety, did not return until late in the evening, dragging a monkey
after him, which he said he had found chained to the foot of a tree. For
more than a month past, the mischievous child, who knew not what to wish
for, had taken it into his head to have a monkey. A boatman, who had
passed by Rogliano, and who had several of these animals, whose tricks
had greatly diverted him, had, doubtless, suggested this idea to him.
'Monkeys are not found in our woods chained to trees,' said I; 'confess
how you obtained this animal.' Benedetto maintained the truth of what
he had said, and accompanied it with details that did more honor to his
imagination than to his veracity. I became angry; he began to laugh, I
threa