, and
uttered a cry of terror on beholding a man before her.

* The Carolina--not Virginia--jessamine, gelsemium
sempervirens (properly speaking not a jessamine at all) has
yellow blossoms. The reference is no doubt to the Wistaria
frutescens.--Ed.

"Madame," said the count, "it is no longer in my power to restore you to
happiness, but I offer you consolation; will you deign to accept it as
coming from a friend?"

"I am, indeed, most wretched," replied Mercedes. "Alone in the world, I
had but my son, and he has left me!"

"He possesses a noble heart, madame," replied the count, "and he has
acted rightly. He feels that every man owes a tribute to his country;
some contribute their talents, others their industry; these devote their
blood, those their nightly labors, to the same cause. Had he remained
with you, his life must have become a hateful burden, nor would he have
participated in your griefs. He will increase in strength and honor by
struggling with adversity, which he will convert into prosperity.
Leave him to build up the future for you, and I venture to say you will
confide it to safe hands."

"Oh," replied the wretched woman, mournfully shaking her head, "the
prosperity of which you speak, and which, from the bottom of my heart, I
pray God in his mercy to grant him, I can never enjoy. The bitter cup of
adversity has been drained by me to the very dregs, and I feel that the
grave is not far distant. You have acted kindly, count, in bringing me
back to the place where I have enjoyed so much bliss. I ought to meet
death on the same spot where happiness was once all my own."

"Alas," said Monte Cristo, "your words sear and embitter my heart, the
more so as you have every reason to hate me. I have been the cause of
all your misfortunes; but why do you pity, instead of blaming me? You
render me still more unhappy"--

"Hate you, blame you--you, Edmond! Hate, reproach, the man that has
spared my son's life! For was it not your fatal and sanguinary intention
to destroy that son of whom M. de Morcerf was so proud? Oh, look at me
closely, and discover if you can even the semblance of a reproach in
me." The count looked up and fixed his eyes on Mercedes, who arose
partly from her seat and extended both her hands towards him. "Oh, look
at me," continued she, with a feeling of profound melancholy, "my eyes
no longer dazzle by their brilliancy, for the time has long fled since I
used to smile on E