the Morcerfs would yield to the Cavalcanti?"

"The Morcerfs!--Stay, my dear count," said Danglars; "you are a man of
the world, are you not?"

"I think so."

"And you understand heraldry?"

"A little."

"Well, look at my coat-of-arms, it is worth more than Morcerf's."

"Why so?"

"Because, though I am not a baron by birth, my real name is, at least,
Danglars."

"Well, what then?"

"While his name is not Morcerf."

"How?--not Morcerf?"

"Not the least in the world."

"Go on."

"I have been made a baron, so that I actually am one; he made himself a
count, so that he is not one at all."

"Impossible!"

"Listen my dear count; M. de Morcerf has been my friend, or rather my
acquaintance, during the last thirty years. You know I have made the
most of my arms, though I never forgot my origin."

"A proof of great humility or great pride," said Monte Cristo.

"Well, when I was a clerk, Morcerf was a mere fisherman."

"And then he was called"--

"Fernand."

"Only Fernand?"

"Fernand Mondego."

"You are sure?"

"Pardieu, I have bought enough fish of him to know his name."

"Then, why did you think of giving your daughter to him?"

"Because Fernand and Danglars, being both parvenus, both having become
noble, both rich, are about equal in worth, excepting that there have
been certain things mentioned of him that were never said of me."

"What?"

"Oh, nothing!"

"Ah, yes; what you tell me recalls to mind something about the name of
Fernand Mondego. I have heard that name in Greece."

"In conjunction with the affairs of Ali Pasha?"

"Exactly so."

"This is the mystery," said Danglars. "I acknowledge I would have given
anything to find it out."

"It would be very easy if you much wished it?"

"How so?"

"Probably you have some correspondent in Greece?"

"I should think so."

"At Yanina?"

"Everywhere."

"Well, write to your correspondent in Yanina, and ask him what part was
played by a Frenchman named Fernand Mondego in the catastrophe of Ali
Tepelini."

"You are right," exclaimed Danglars, rising quickly, "I will write
to-day."

"Do so."

"I will."

"And if you should hear of anything very scandalous"--

"I will communicate it to you."

"You will oblige me." Danglars rushed out of the room, and made but one
leap into his coupe.

Chapter 67. At the Office of the King's Attorney.

Let us leave the banker driving his horses at their fullest speed, and
follow Madame D