theories of The
Mountain,--theories that never shrank from any means that were deemed
necessary to bring about the desired result."

"Well," said Monte Cristo, "it is just as I thought; it was politics
which brought Noirtier and M. d'Epinay into personal contact. Although
General d'Epinay served under Napoleon, did he not still retain royalist
sentiments? And was he not the person who was assassinated one evening
on leaving a Bonapartist meeting to which he had been invited on the
supposition that he favored the cause of the emperor?" Villefort looked
at the count almost with terror. "Am I mistaken, then?" said Monte
Cristo.

"No, sir, the facts were precisely what you have stated," said Madame
de Villefort; "and it was to prevent the renewal of old feuds that M. de
Villefort formed the idea of uniting in the bonds of affection the two
children of these inveterate enemies."

"It was a sublime and charitable thought," said Monte Cristo, "and the
whole world should applaud it. It would be noble to see Mademoiselle
Noirtier de Villefort assuming the title of Madame Franz d'Epinay."
Villefort shuddered and looked at Monte Cristo as if he wished to read
in his countenance the real feelings which had dictated the words he
had just uttered. But the count completely baffled the procureur, and
prevented him from discovering anything beneath the never-varying
smile he was so constantly in the habit of assuming. "Although,"
said Villefort, "it will be a serious thing for Valentine to lose
her grandfather's fortune, I do not think that M. d'Epinay will be
frightened at this pecuniary loss. He will, perhaps, hold me in greater
esteem than the money itself, seeing that I sacrifice everything in
order to keep my word with him. Besides, he knows that Valentine is rich
in right of her mother, and that she will, in all probability, inherit
the fortune of M. and Madame de Saint-Meran, her mother's parents, who
both love her tenderly."

"And who are fully as well worth loving and tending as M. Noirtier,"
said Madame de Villefort; "besides, they are to come to Paris in about
a month, and Valentine, after the affront she has received, need not
consider it necessary to continue to bury herself alive by being shut up
with M. Noirtier." The count listened with satisfaction to this tale
of wounded self-love and defeated ambition. "But it seems to me," said
Monte Cristo, "and I must begin by asking your pardon for what I am
about to say, tha