he Count of Monte Cristo?" continued the false abbe.

"Reverend sir," murmured Caderousse, seeking to regain the window, which
the count pitilessly blocked--"reverend sir, I don't know--believe me--I
take my oath"--

"A pane of glass out," continued the count, "a dark lantern, a bunch of
false keys, a secretary half forced--it is tolerably evident"--

Caderousse was choking; he looked around for some corner to hide in,
some way of escape.

"Come, come," continued the count, "I see you are still the same,--an
assassin."

"Reverend sir, since you know everything, you know it was not I--it was
La Carconte; that was proved at the trial, since I was only condemned to
the galleys."

"Is your time, then, expired, since I find you in a fair way to return
there?"

"No, reverend sir; I have been liberated by some one."

"That some one has done society a great kindness."

"Ah," said Caderousse, "I had promised"--

"And you are breaking your promise!" interrupted Monte Cristo.

"Alas, yes!" said Caderousse very uneasily.

"A bad relapse, that will lead you, if I mistake not, to the Place de
Greve. So much the worse, so much the worse--diavolo, as they say in my
country."

"Reverend sir, I am impelled"--

"Every criminal says the same thing."

"Poverty"--

"Pshaw!" said Busoni disdainfully; "poverty may make a man beg, steal a
loaf of bread at a baker's door, but not cause him to open a secretary
in a house supposed to be inhabited. And when the jeweller Johannes had
just paid you 40,000. francs for the diamond I had given you, and
you killed him to get the diamond and the money both, was that also
poverty?"

"Pardon, reverend sir," said Caderousse; "you have saved my life once,
save me again!"

"That is but poor encouragement."

"Are you alone, reverend sir, or have you there soldiers ready to seize
me?"

"I am alone," said the abbe, "and I will again have pity on you, and
will let you escape, at the risk of the fresh miseries my weakness may
lead to, if you tell me the truth."

"Ah, reverend sir," cried Caderousse, clasping his hands, and drawing
nearer to Monte Cristo, "I may indeed say you are my deliverer!"

"You mean to say you have been freed from confinement?"

"Yes, that is true, reverend sir."

"Who was your liberator?"

"An Englishman."

"What was his name?"

"Lord Wilmore."

"I know him; I shall know if you lie."

"Ah, reverend sir, I tell you the simple truth."

"Was this Engli