liged, and as he never took any pains to please or gratify
him when he was there, all the old man's happiness was centred in his
granddaughter. Valentine, by means of her love, her patience, and her
devotion, had learned to read in Noirtier's look all the varied feelings
which were passing in his mind. To this dumb language, which was so
unintelligible to others, she answered by throwing her whole soul
into the expression of her countenance, and in this manner were the
conversations sustained between the blooming girl and the helpless
invalid, whose body could scarcely be called a living one, but who,
nevertheless, possessed a fund of knowledge and penetration, united with
a will as powerful as ever although clogged by a body rendered utterly
incapable of obeying its impulses. Valentine had solved the problem,
and was able easily to understand his thoughts, and to convey her own in
return, and, through her untiring and devoted assiduity, it was seldom
that, in the ordinary transactions of every-day life, she failed to
anticipate the wishes of the living, thinking mind, or the wants of the
almost inanimate body. As to the servant, he had, as we have said, been
with his master for five and twenty years, therefore he knew all his
habits, and it was seldom that Noirtier found it necessary to ask for
anything, so prompt was he in administering to all the necessities of
the invalid. Villefort did not need the help of either Valentine or the
domestic in order to carry on with his father the strange conversation
which he was about to begin. As we have said, he perfectly understood
the old man's vocabulary, and if he did not use it more often, it
was only indifference and ennui which prevented him from so doing. He
therefore allowed Valentine to go into the garden, sent away Barrois,
and after having seated himself at his father's right hand, while Madame
de Villefort placed herself on the left, he addressed him thus:--

"I trust you will not be displeased, sir, that Valentine has not come
with us, or that I dismissed Barrois, for our conference will be one
which could not with propriety be carried on in the presence of either.
Madame de Villefort and I have a communication to make to you."

Noirtier's face remained perfectly passive during this long preamble,
while, on the contrary, Villefort's eye was endeavoring to penetrate
into the inmost recesses of the old man's heart.

"This communication," continued the procureur, in t