en he has behaved like a father. If you
went to Spain, would you not see the bull-fight? Well, suppose it is
a bull-fight you are going to see? Recollect the ancient Romans of
the Circus, and the sports where they killed three hundred lions and
a hundred men. Think of the eighty thousand applauding spectators, the
sage matrons who took their daughters, and the charming Vestals who made
with the thumb of their white hands the fatal sign that said, 'Come,
despatch the dying.'"

"Shall you go, then, Albert?" asked Franz.

"Ma foi, yes; like you, I hesitated, but the count's eloquence decides
me."

"Let us go, then," said Franz, "since you wish it; but on our way to the
Piazza del Popolo, I wish to pass through the Corso. Is this possible,
count?"

"On foot, yes, in a carriage, no."

"I will go on foot, then."

"Is it important that you should go that way?"

"Yes, there is something I wish to see."

"Well, we will go by the Corso. We will send the carriage to wait for us
on the Piazza del Popolo, by the Strada del Babuino, for I shall be glad
to pass, myself, through the Corso, to see if some orders I have given
have been executed."

"Excellency," said a servant, opening the door, "a man in the dress of a
penitent wishes to speak to you."

"Ah, yes" returned the count, "I know who he is, gentlemen; will you
return to the salon? you will find good cigars on the centre table. I
will be with you directly." The young men rose and returned into the
salon, while the count, again apologizing, left by another door. Albert,
who was a great smoker, and who had considered it no small sacrifice to
be deprived of the cigars of the Cafe de Paris, approached the table,
and uttered a cry of joy at perceiving some veritable puros.

"Well," asked Franz, "what think you of the Count of Monte Cristo?"

"What do I think?" said Albert, evidently surprised at such a question
from his companion; "I think he is a delightful fellow, who does the
honors of his table admirably; who has travelled much, read much, is,
like Brutus, of the Stoic school, and moreover," added he, sending a
volume of smoke up towards the ceiling, "that he has excellent cigars."
Such was Albert's opinion of the count, and as Franz well knew that
Albert professed never to form an opinion except upon long reflection,
he made no attempt to change it. "But," said he, "did you observe one
very singular thing?"

"What?"

"How attentively he looked at you."

"At