lowish hue. From Valentine the young man looked towards Noirtier. The
latter watched with strange and deep interest the young girl, absorbed
by her affection, and he also, like Morrel, followed those traces of
inward suffering which was so little perceptible to a common observer
that they escaped the notice of every one but the grandfather and the
lover.

"But," said Morrel, "I thought this mixture, of which you now take four
spoonfuls, was prepared for M. Noirtier?"

"I know it is very bitter," said Valentine; "so bitter, that all I drink
afterwards appears to have the same taste." Noirtier looked inquiringly
at his granddaughter. "Yes, grandpapa," said Valentine; "it is so. Just
now, before I came down to you, I drank a glass of sugared water; I left
half, because it seemed so bitter." Noirtier turned pale, and made a
sign that he wished to speak. Valentine rose to fetch the dictionary.
Noirtier watched her with evident anguish. In fact, the blood was
rushing to the young girl's head already, her cheeks were becoming
red. "Oh," cried she, without losing any of her cheerfulness, "this is
singular! I can't see! Did the sun shine in my eyes?" And she leaned
against the window.

"The sun is not shining," said Morrel, more alarmed by Noirtier's
expression than by Valentine's indisposition. He ran towards her. The
young girl smiled. "Cheer up," said she to Noirtier. "Do not be alarmed,
Maximilian; it is nothing, and has already passed away. But listen! Do I
not hear a carriage in the court-yard?" She opened Noirtier's door, ran
to a window in the passage, and returned hastily. "Yes," said she,
"it is Madame Danglars and her daughter, who have come to call on us.
Good-by;--I must run away, for they would send here for me, or, rather,
farewell till I see you again. Stay with grandpapa, Maximilian; I
promise you not to persuade them to stay."

Morrel watched her as she left the room; he heard her ascend the little
staircase which led both to Madame de Villefort's apartments and to
hers. As soon as she was gone, Noirtier made a sign to Morrel to take
the dictionary. Morrel obeyed; guided by Valentine, he had learned how
to understand the old man quickly. Accustomed, however, as he was to the
work, he had to repeat most of the letters of the alphabet and to find
every word in the dictionary, so that it was ten minutes before the
thought of the old man was translated by these words, "Fetch the glass
of water and the decanter