ity
send for a physician; my whole fortune shall not be thought too much for
the recovery of my boy."

With a calm smile and a gentle wave of the hand, Monte Cristo signed to
the distracted mother to lay aside her apprehensions; then, opening
a casket that stood near, he drew forth a phial of Bohemian glass
incrusted with gold, containing a liquid of the color of blood, of which
he let fall a single drop on the child's lips. Scarcely had it reached
them, ere the boy, though still pale as marble, opened his eyes, and
eagerly gazed around him. At this, the delight of the mother was almost
frantic. "Where am I?" exclaimed she; "and to whom am I indebted for so
happy a termination to my late dreadful alarm?"

"Madame," answered the count, "you are under the roof of one who esteems
himself most fortunate in having been able to save you from a further
continuance of your sufferings."

"My wretched curiosity has brought all this about," pursued the lady.
"All Paris rung with the praises of Madame Danglars' beautiful horses,
and I had the folly to desire to know whether they really merited the
high praise given to them."

"Is it possible," exclaimed the count with well-feigned astonishment,
"that these horses belong to the baroness?"

"They do, indeed. May I inquire if you are acquainted with Madame
Danglars?"

"I have that honor; and my happiness at your escape from the danger that
threatened you is redoubled by the consciousness that I have been
the unwilling and the unintentional cause of all the peril you have
incurred. I yesterday purchased these horses of the baron; but as the
baroness evidently regretted parting with them, I ventured to send them
back to her, with a request that she would gratify me by accepting them
from my hands."

"You are, then, doubtless, the Count of Monte Cristo, of whom Hermine
has talked to me so much?"

"You have rightly guessed, madame," replied the count.

"And I am Madame Heloise de Villefort." The count bowed with the air of
a person who hears a name for the first time. "How grateful will M. de
Villefort be for all your goodness; how thankfully will he acknowledge
that to you alone he owes the existence of his wife and child! Most
certainly, but for the prompt assistance of your intrepid servant, this
dear child and myself must both have perished."

"Indeed, I still shudder at the fearful danger you were placed in."

"I trust you will allow me to recompense worthily the devoti