e Count of Monte Cristo is an intimate acquaintance
of Lord Wilmore, a rich foreigner, who is sometimes seen in Paris and
who is there at this moment; he is also known to the Abbe Busoni, a
Sicilian priest, of high repute in the East, where he has done much
good."

M. de Villefort replied by ordering the strictest inquiries to be
made respecting these two persons; his orders were executed, and the
following evening he received these details:--

"The abbe, who was in Paris only for a month, inhabited a small
two-storied house behind Saint-Sulpice; there were two rooms on each
floor and he was the only tenant. The two lower rooms consisted of a
dining-room, with a table, chairs, and side-board of walnut,--and a
wainscoted parlor, without ornaments, carpet, or timepiece. It was
evident that the abbe limited himself to objects of strict necessity. He
preferred to use the sitting-room upstairs, which was more library than
parlor, and was furnished with theological books and parchments, in
which he delighted to bury himself for months at a time, according to
his valet de chambre. His valet looked at the visitors through a sort
of wicket; and if their faces were unknown to him or displeased him, he
replied that the abbe was not in Paris, an answer which satisfied most
persons, because the abbe was known to be a great traveller. Besides,
whether at home or not, whether in Paris or Cairo, the abbe always left
something to give away, which the valet distributed through this wicket
in his master's name. The other room near the library was a bedroom. A
bed without curtains, four arm-chairs, and a couch, covered with yellow
Utrecht velvet, composed, with a prie-Dieu, all its furniture. Lord
Wilmore resided in Rue Fontaine-Saint-George. He was one of those
English tourists who consume a large fortune in travelling. He hired the
apartment in which he lived furnished, passed only a few hours in the
day there, and rarely slept there. One of his peculiarities was never to
speak a word of French, which he however wrote with great facility."

The day after this important information had been given to the king's
attorney, a man alighted from a carriage at the corner of the Rue
Ferou, and rapping at an olive-green door, asked if the Abbe Busoni were
within. "No, he went out early this morning," replied the valet.

"I might not always be content with that answer," replied the visitor,
"for I come from one to whom everyone must be at home.