To-morrow!" replied the steward.

Chapter 108. The Judge.

We remember that the Abbe Busoni remained alone with Noirtier in the
chamber of death, and that the old man and the priest were the sole
guardians of the young girl's body. Perhaps it was the Christian
exhortations of the abbe, perhaps his kind charity, perhaps his
persuasive words, which had restored the courage of Noirtier, for ever
since he had conversed with the priest his violent despair had yielded
to a calm resignation which surprised all who knew his excessive
affection for Valentine. M. de Villefort had not seen his father since
the morning of the death. The whole establishment had been changed;
another valet was engaged for himself, a new servant for Noirtier, two
women had entered Madame de Villefort's service,--in fact, everywhere,
to the concierge and coachmen, new faces were presented to the different
masters of the house, thus widening the division which had always
existed between the members of the same family.

The assizes, also, were about to begin, and Villefort, shut up in his
room, exerted himself with feverish anxiety in drawing up the case
against the murderer of Caderousse. This affair, like all those in which
the Count of Monte Cristo had interfered, caused a great sensation in
Paris. The proofs were certainly not convincing, since they rested upon
a few words written by an escaped galley-slave on his death-bed, and who
might have been actuated by hatred or revenge in accusing his companion.
But the mind of the procureur was made up; he felt assured that
Benedetto was guilty, and he hoped by his skill in conducting this
aggravated case to flatter his self-love, which was about the only
vulnerable point left in his frozen heart.

The case was therefore prepared owing to the incessant labor of
Villefort, who wished it to be the first on the list in the coming
assizes. He had been obliged to seclude himself more than ever, to evade
the enormous number of applications presented to him for the purpose
of obtaining tickets of admission to the court on the day of trial. And
then so short a time had elapsed since the death of poor Valentine,
and the gloom which overshadowed the house was so recent, that no one
wondered to see the father so absorbed in his professional duties, which
were the only means he had of dissipating his grief.

Once only had Villefort seen his father; it was the day after that upon
which Bertuccio had paid his se