He extended his
hand.

"I swear to you, on my honor," said he, "to await your decision
respecting the course I am to pursue with M. d'Epinay."

"That is right," said the old man.

"Now," said Morrel, "do you wish me to retire?"

"Yes."

"Without seeing Mademoiselle Valentine?"

"Yes."

Morrel made a sign that he was ready to obey. "But," said he, "first
allow me to embrace you as your daughter did just now." Noirtier's
expression could not be understood. The young man pressed his lips on
the same spot, on the old man's forehead, where Valentine's had been.
Then he bowed a second time and retired. He found outside the door
the old servant, to whom Valentine had given directions. Morrel was
conducted along a dark passage, which led to a little door opening
on the garden, soon found the spot where he had entered, with the
assistance of the shrubs gained the top of the wall, and by his ladder
was in an instant in the clover-field where his cabriolet was still
waiting for him. He got in it, and thoroughly wearied by so many
emotions, arrived about midnight in the Rue Meslay, threw himself on his
bed and slept soundly.

Chapter 74. The Villefort Family Vault.

Two days after, a considerable crowd was assembled, towards ten o'clock
in the morning, around the door of M. de Villefort's house, and a
long file of mourning-coaches and private carriages extended along the
Faubourg Saint-Honore and the Rue de la Pepiniere. Among them was one
of a very singular form, which appeared to have come from a distance. It
was a kind of covered wagon, painted black, and was one of the first
to arrive. Inquiry was made, and it was ascertained that, by a strange
coincidence, this carriage contained the corpse of the Marquis de
Saint-Meran, and that those who had come thinking to attend one funeral
would follow two. Their number was great. The Marquis de Saint-Meran,
one of the most zealous and faithful dignitaries of Louis XVIII. and
King Charles X., had preserved a great number of friends, and these,
added to the personages whom the usages of society gave Villefort a
claim on, formed a considerable body.

Due information was given to the authorities, and permission obtained
that the two funerals should take place at the same time. A second
hearse, decked with the same funereal pomp, was brought to M. de
Villefort's door, and the coffin removed into it from the post-wagon.
The two bodies were to be interred in the cemetery of