by everybody."

"So much the worse, or rather, so much the better; it has been so
ordained that he may have none to weep his fate."

"But this is trampling on the weak, sir."

"The weakness of a murderer!"

"His dishonor reflects upon us."

"Is not death in my house?"

"Oh, sir," exclaimed the baroness, "you are without pity for others,
well, then, I tell you they will have no mercy on you!"

"Be it so!" said Villefort, raising his arms to heaven.

"At least, delay the trial till the next assizes; we shall then have six
months before us."

"No, madame," said Villefort; "instructions have been given. There are
yet five days left; five days are more than I require. Do you not think
that I also long for forgetfulness? While working night and day, I
sometimes lose all recollection of the past, and then I experience the
same sort of happiness I can imagine the dead feel; still, it is better
than suffering."

"But, sir, he has fled; let him escape--inaction is a pardonable
offence."

"I tell you it is too late; early this morning the telegraph was
employed, and at this very minute"--

"Sir," said the valet de chambre, entering the room, "a dragoon has
brought this despatch from the minister of the interior." Villefort
seized the letter, and hastily broke the seal. Madame Danglars trembled
with fear; Villefort started with joy. "Arrested!" he exclaimed; "he
was taken at Compiegne, and all is over." Madame Danglars rose from her
seat, pale and cold. "Adieu, sir," she said. "Adieu, madame," replied
the king's attorney, as in an almost joyful manner he conducted her to
the door. Then, turning to his desk, he said, striking the letter with
the back of his right hand, "Come, I had a forgery, three robberies, and
two cases of arson, I only wanted a murder, and here it is. It will be a
splendid session!"

Chapter 100. The Apparition.

As the procureur had told Madame Danglars, Valentine was not yet
recovered. Bowed down with fatigue, she was indeed confined to her bed;
and it was in her own room, and from the lips of Madame de Villefort,
that she heard all the strange events we have related,--we mean the
flight of Eugenie and the arrest of Andrea Cavalcanti, or rather
Benedetto, together with the accusation of murder pronounced against
him. But Valentine was so weak that this recital scarcely produced
the same effect it would have done had she been in her usual state of
health. Indeed, her brain was only the se