barley for
their sole food during that time, will bring them back to as fine, that
is as terrifying, a condition as they were in yesterday. Adieu! I cannot
return you many thanks for the drive of yesterday; but, after all,
I ought not to blame you for the misconduct of your horses, more
especially as it procured me the pleasure of an introduction to the
Count of Monte Cristo,--and certainly that illustrious personage, apart
from the millions he is said to be so very anxious to dispose of, seemed
to me one of those curiously interesting problems I, for one, delight in
solving at any risk, even if it were to necessitate another drive to
the Bois behind your horses. Edward endured the accident with miraculous
courage--he did not utter a single cry, but fell lifeless into my arms;
nor did a tear fall from his eyes after it was over. I doubt not you
will consider these praises the result of blind maternal affection, but
there is a soul of iron in that delicate, fragile body. Valentine sends
many affectionate remembrances to your dear Eugenie. I embrace you with
all my heart.

Heloise de Villefort.

P.S.--Do pray contrive some means for me to meet the Count of Monte
Cristo at your house. I must and will see him again. I have just made
M. de Villefort promise to call on him, and I hope the visit will be
returned.

That night the adventure at Auteuil was talked of everywhere. Albert
related it to his mother; Chateau-Renaud recounted it at the Jockey
Club, and Debray detailed it at length in the salons of the minister;
even Beauchamp accorded twenty lines in his journal to the relation
of the count's courage and gallantry, thereby celebrating him as the
greatest hero of the day in the eyes of all the feminine members of the
aristocracy. Vast was the crowd of visitors and inquiring friends who
left their names at the residence of Madame de Villefort, with the
design of renewing their visit at the right moment, of hearing from her
lips all the interesting circumstances of this most romantic adventure.
As for M. de Villefort, he fulfilled the predictions of Heloise to the
letter,--donned his dress suit, drew on a pair of white gloves, ordered
the servants to attend the carriage dressed in their full livery, and
drove that same night to No. 30 in the Avenue des Champs-Elysees.

Chapter 48. Ideology.

If the Count of Monte Cristo had been for a long time familiar with
the ways of Parisian society, he would have appreciated