illefort. "M. de
Villefort," he said, "will you conduct the Baroness Danglars?"

Villefort complied, and they passed on to the dining-room.

Chapter 63. The Dinner.

It was evident that one sentiment affected all the guests on entering
the dining-room. Each one asked what strange influence had brought them
to this house, and yet astonished, even uneasy though they were, they
still felt that they would not like to be absent. The recent events, the
solitary and eccentric position of the count, his enormous, nay, almost
incredible fortune, should have made men cautious, and have altogether
prevented ladies visiting a house where there was no one of their own
sex to receive them; and yet curiosity had been enough to lead them
to overleap the bounds of prudence and decorum. And all present, even
including Cavalcanti and his son, notwithstanding the stiffness of
the one and the carelessness of the other, were thoughtful, on finding
themselves assembled at the house of this incomprehensible man. Madame
Danglars had started when Villefort, on the count's invitation, offered
his arm; and Villefort felt that his glance was uneasy beneath his gold
spectacles, when he felt the arm of the baroness press upon his own.
None of this had escaped the count, and even by this mere contact of
individuals the scene had already acquired considerable interest for an
observer. M. de Villefort had on the right hand Madame Danglars, on
his left Morrel. The count was seated between Madame de Villefort and
Danglars; the other seats were filled by Debray, who was placed between
the two Cavalcanti, and by Chateau-Renaud, seated between Madame de
Villefort and Morrel.

The repast was magnificent; Monte Cristo had endeavored completely to
overturn the Parisian ideas, and to feed the curiosity as much as the
appetite of his guests. It was an Oriental feast that he offered to
them, but of such a kind as the Arabian fairies might be supposed to
prepare. Every delicious fruit that the four quarters of the globe could
provide was heaped in vases from China and jars from Japan. Rare birds,
retaining their most brilliant plumage, enormous fish, spread upon
massive silver dishes, together with every wine produced in the
Archipelago, Asia Minor, or the Cape, sparkling in bottles, whose
grotesque shape seemed to give an additional flavor to the draught,--all
these, like one of the displays with which Apicius of old gratified his
guests, passed in review