nd her eyes dull from fatigue.
She was said to have a weak chest, and like Antonia in the "Cremona
Violin," she would die one day while singing. Monte Cristo cast one
rapid and curious glance round this sanctum; it was the first time he
had ever seen Mademoiselle d'Armilly, of whom he had heard much. "Well,"
said the banker to his daughter, "are we then all to be excluded?" He
then led the young man into the study, and either by chance or manoeuvre
the door was partially closed after Andrea, so that from the place where
they sat neither the Count nor the baroness could see anything; but as
the banker had accompanied Andrea, Madame Danglars appeared to take no
notice of it.

The count soon heard Andrea's voice, singing a Corsican song,
accompanied by the piano. While the count smiled at hearing this song,
which made him lose sight of Andrea in the recollection of Benedetto,
Madame Danglars was boasting to Monte Cristo of her husband's strength
of mind, who that very morning had lost three or four hundred thousand
francs by a failure at Milan. The praise was well deserved, for had not
the count heard it from the baroness, or by one of those means by which
he knew everything, the baron's countenance would not have led him
to suspect it. "Hem," thought Monte Cristo, "he begins to conceal his
losses; a month since he boasted of them." Then aloud,--"Oh, madame, M.
Danglars is so skilful, he will soon regain at the Bourse what he loses
elsewhere."

"I see that you participate in a prevalent error," said Madame Danglars.
"What is it?" said Monte Cristo.

"That M. Danglars speculates, whereas he never does."

"Truly, madame, I recollect M. Debray told me--apropos, what is become
of him? I have seen nothing of him the last three or four days."

"Nor I," said Madame Danglars; "but you began a sentence, sir, and did
not finish."

"Which?"

"M. Debray had told you"--

"Ah, yes; he told me it was you who sacrificed to the demon of
speculation."

"I was once very fond of it, but I do not indulge now."

"Then you are wrong, madame. Fortune is precarious; and if I were
a woman and fate had made me a banker's wife, whatever might be my
confidence in my husband's good fortune, still in speculation you
know there is great risk. Well, I would secure for myself a fortune
independent of him, even if I acquired it by placing my interests in
hands unknown to him." Madame Danglars blushed, in spite of all her
efforts. "Stay," said