But, under the present circumstances, I am justified in doubting the wisdom of an old man who, because he hated the father, vents his anger on the son.It would be ridiculous in me to regulate my conduct by such caprices.I shall still continue to preserve the same respect toward M.Noirtier; Iwill suffer, without complaint, the pecuniary deprivation to which he has subjected me; but I shall remain firm in my determination, and the world shall see which party his reason on his side.Consequently I shall marry my daughter to the Baron Franz d'Epinay, because I consider it would be a proper and eligible match for her to make, and, in short, because I choose to bestow my daughter's hand on whomever Iplease."
"What?" said the count, the approbation of whose eye Villefort had frequently solicited during this speech.
"What? Do you say that M.Noirtier disinherits Mademoiselle de Villefort because she is going to marry M.le Baron Franz d'Epinay?""Yes, sir, that is the reason," said Villefort, shrugging his shoulders.
"The apparent reason, at least," said Madame de Villefort.
"The real reason, madame, I can assure you; I know my father.""But I want to know in what way M.d'Epinay can have displeased your father more than any other person?""I believe I know M.Franz d'Epinay," said the count; "is he not the son of General de Quesnel, who was created Baron d'Epinay by Charles X.?""The same," said Villefort.
"Well, but he is a charming young man, according to my ideas.""He is, which makes me believe that it is only an excuse of M.Noirtier to prevent his granddaughter marrying; old men are always so selfish in their affection," said Madame de Villefort.
"But," said Monte Cristo "do you not know any cause for this hatred?""Ah, ma foi, who is to know?"
"Perhaps it is some political difference?""My father and the Baron d'Epinay lived in the stormy times of which I only saw the ending," said Villefort.
"Was not your father a Bonapartist?" asked Monte Cristo; "Ithink I remember that you told me something of that kind.""My father has been a Jacobin more than anything else," said Villefort, carried by his emotion beyond the bounds of prudence; "and the senator's robe, which Napoleon cast on his shoulders, only served to disguise the old man without in any degree changing him.When my father conspired, it was not for the emperor, it was against the Bourbons; for M.
Noirtier possessed this peculiarity, he never projected any Utopian schemes which could never be realized, but strove for possibilities, and he applied to the realization of these possibilities the terrible theories of The Mountain, -- theories that never shrank from any means that were deemed necessary to bring about the desired result.""Well," said Monte Cristo, "it is just as I thought; it was politics which brought Noirtier and M.d'Epinay into personal contact.Although General d'Epinay served under Napoleon, did he not still retain royalist sentiments? And was he not the person who was assassinated one evening on leaving a Bonapartist meeting to which he had been invited on the supposition that he favored the cause of the emperor?" Villefort looked at the count almost with terror.
"Am I mistaken, then?" said Monte Cristo.
"No, sir, the facts were precisely what you have stated,"said Madame de Villefort; "and it was to prevent the renewal of old feuds that M.de Villefort formed the idea of uniting in the bonds of affection the two children of these inveterate enemies.""It was a sublime and charitable thought," said Monte Cristo, "and the whole world should applaud it.It would be noble to see Mademoiselle Noirtier de Villefort assuming the title of Madame Franz d'Epinay." Villefort shuddered and looked at Monte Cristo as if he wished to read in his countenance the real feelings which had dictated the words he had just uttered.But the count completely baffled the procureur, and prevented him from discovering anything beneath the never-varying smile he was so constantly in the habit of assuming."Although," said Villefort, "it will be a serious thing for Valentine to lose her grandfather's fortune, I do not think that M.d'Epinay will be frightened at this pecuniary loss.He will, perhaps, hold me in greater esteem than the money itself, seeing that I sacrifice everything in order to keep my word with him.Besides, he knows that Valentine is rich in right of her mother, and that she will, in all probability, inherit the fortune of M.
and Madame de Saint-Meran, her mother's parents, who both love her tenderly.""And who are fully as well worth loving and tending as M.
Noirtier," said Madame de Villefort; "besides, they are to come to Paris in about a month, and Valentine, after the affront she has received, need not consider it necessary to continue to bury herself alive by being shut up with M.