Villefort. Both of the visitors, after saluting the old man
and speaking to Barrois, a faithful servant, who had been twenty-five
years in his service, took their places on either side of the paralytic.

M. Noirtier was sitting in an arm-chair, which moved upon casters, in
which he was wheeled into the room in the morning, and in the same way
drawn out again at night. He was placed before a large glass, which
reflected the whole apartment, and so, without any attempt to move,
which would have been impossible, he could see all who entered the room
and everything which was going on around him. M. Noirtier, although
almost as immovable as a corpse, looked at the new-comers with a quick
and intelligent expression, perceiving at once, by their ceremonious
courtesy, that they were come on business of an unexpected and official
character. Sight and hearing were the only senses remaining, and they,
like two solitary sparks, remained to animate the miserable body which
seemed fit for nothing but the grave; it was only, however, by means of
one of these senses that he could reveal the thoughts and feelings that
still occupied his mind, and the look by which he gave expression to his
inner life was like the distant gleam of a candle which a traveller sees
by night across some desert place, and knows that a living being dwells
beyond the silence and obscurity. Noirtier's hair was long and white,
and flowed over his shoulders; while in his eyes, shaded by thick black
lashes, was concentrated, as it often happens with an organ which is
used to the exclusion of the others, all the activity, address, force,
and intelligence which were formerly diffused over his whole body; and
so although the movement of the arm, the sound of the voice, and the
agility of the body, were wanting, the speaking eye sufficed for all.
He commanded with it; it was the medium through which his thanks were
conveyed. In short, his whole appearance produced on the mind the
impression of a corpse with living eyes, and nothing could be more
startling than to observe the expression of anger or joy suddenly
lighting up these organs, while the rest of the rigid and marble-like
features were utterly deprived of the power of participation. Three
persons only could understand this language of the poor paralytic; these
were Villefort, Valentine, and the old servant of whom we have already
spoken. But as Villefort saw his father but seldom, and then only when
absolutely ob