"I again reminded her that you were a friend, and that she need not conceal anything from you.""Then," said Albert, "this pious pilgrimage in behalf of the prisoners was your first remembrance; what is the next?""Oh, then I remember as if it were but yesterday sitting under the shade of some sycamore-trees, on the borders of a lake, in the waters of which the trembling foliage was reflected as in a mirror.Under the oldest and thickest of these trees, reclining on cushions, sat my father; my mother was at his feet, and I, childlike, amused myself by playing with his long white beard which descended to his girdle, or with the diamond-hilt of the scimitar attached to his girdle.Then from time to time there came to him an Albanian who said something to which I paid no attention, but which he always answered in the same tone of voice, either `Kill,'
or `Pardon.'"
"It is very strange," said Albert, "to hear such words proceed from the mouth of any one but an actress on the stage, and one needs constantly to be saying to one's self, `This is no fiction, it is all reality,' in order to believe it.And how does France appear in your eyes, accustomed as they have been to gaze on such enchanted scenes?""I think it is a fine country," said Haidee, "but I see France as it really is, because I look on it with the eyes of a woman; whereas my own country, which I can only judge of from the impression produced on my childish mind, always seems enveloped in a vague atmosphere, which is luminous or otherwise, according as my remembrances of it are sad or joyous.""So young," said Albert, forgetting at the moment the Count's command that he should ask no questions of the slave herself, "is it possible that you can have known what suffering is except by name?"Haidee turned her eyes towards Monte Cristo, who, making at the same time some imperceptible sign, murmured, -- "Go on.""Nothing is ever so firmly impressed on the mind as the memory of our early childhood, and with the exception of the two scenes I have just described to you, all my earliest reminiscences are fraught with deepest sadness.""Speak, speak, signora," said Albert, "I am listening with the most intense delight and interest to all you say."Haidee answered his remark with a melancholy smile."You wish me, then, to relate the history of my past sorrows?"said she.
"I beg you to do so," replied Albert.
"Well, I was but four years old when one night I was suddenly awakened by my mother.We were in the palace of Yanina; she snatched me from the cushions on which I was sleeping, and on opening my eyes I saw hers filled with tears.She took me away without speaking.When I saw her weeping I began to cry too.`Hush, child!' said she.At other times in spite of maternal endearments or threats, Ihad with a child's caprice been accustomed to indulge my feelings of sorrow or anger by crying as much as I felt inclined; but on this occasion there was an intonation of such extreme terror in my mother's voice when she enjoined me to silence, that I ceased crying as soon as her command was given.She bore me rapidly away.
"I saw then that we were descending a large staircase;around us were all my mother's servants carrying trunks, bags, ornaments, jewels, purses of gold, with which they were hurrying away in the greatest distraction.
"Behind the women came a guard of twenty men armed with long guns and pistols, and dressed in the costume which the Greeks have assumed since they have again become a nation.
You may imagine there was something startling and ominous,"said Haidee, shaking her head and turning pale at the mere remembrance of the scene, "in this long file of slaves and women only half-aroused from sleep, or at least so they appeared to me, who was myself scarcely awake.Here and there on the walls of the staircase, were reflected gigantic shadows, which trembled in the flickering light of the pine-torches till they seemed to reach to the vaulted roof above.
"`Quick!' said a voice at the end of the gallery.This voice made every one bow before it, resembling in its effect the wind passing over a field of wheat, by its superior strength forcing every ear to yield obeisance.As for me, it made me tremble.This voice was that of my father.He came last, clothed in his splendid robes and holding in his hand the carbine which your emperor presented him.He was leaning on the shoulder of his favorite Selim, and he drove us all before him, as a shepherd would his straggling flock.My father," said Haidee, raising her head, "was that illustrious man known in Europe under the name of Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and before whom Turkey trembled."Albert, without knowing why, started on hearing these words pronounced with such a haughty and dignified accent; it appeared to him as if there was something supernaturally gloomy and terrible in the expression which gleamed from the brilliant eyes of Haidee at this moment; she appeared like a Pythoness evoking a spectre, as she recalled to his mind the remembrance of the fearful death of this man, to the news of which all Europe had listened with horror."Soon," said Haidee, "we halted on our march, and found ourselves on the borders of a lake.My mother pressed me to her throbbing heart, and at the distance of a few paces I saw my father, who was glancing anxiously around.Four marble steps led down to the water's edge, and below them was a boat floating on the tide.
"From where we stood I could see in the middle of the lake a large blank mass; it was the kiosk to which we were going.