Ah, my child, my poor child, cried the baroness
She sank back into the chair again and sobbed with her handkerchief over her mouth.
Villefort tried his best to restore his wisdom. He felt that in order to change the current maternal turmoil, he had to feel terrible to inspire Madame Danglars. He took a step closer and said in a low voice that we were finished. The child was alive, and the person knew that he was alive, so he held our secret. Since Monte Cristo told us that he dug up a child’s body, but in fact the child was a root, it was him who could not dig up our secret.
Oh, my God, murmured Madame Danglars.
Villefort gave a vague groan
What about that child? The excited mother asked
You don’t know how I used to look for him. Villefort clasped his hands to answer you. You don’t know how I called him during those long nights of sleep. You don’t know how much I longed to be rich. The prince bought a million secrets from a million people, hoping to find information in them. Then one day, when I picked up the shovel for the hundredth time, I asked again and again what the Corsican did to the child. A child would get into trouble with a fugitive. Maybe he realized that he was still alive and threw him into the river.
Well, yes, yes, the baroness shouted, my child must be there
I hurried to the hospital and knew that a child had indeed been sent there that night, that is, on the night of September 20. He was wrapped in a napkin specially torn in half with linen and sent a word on the napkin and the baron’s coat of arms.
Yes, Madame Danglars shouted that my napkin was marked like this. Mr. Negoni is a baron and my name is Emina. Thank God my child is not dead.
No, he’s not dead.
Aren’t you afraid of killing me by telling me such good news? Where is he and where is my child?
Villefort shrugged his shoulders. How should I know? He said that if I knew, would I describe it to you in detail from beginning to end like a novelist or a novelist? Oh, no, I don’t know. About six months later, a woman came with the other half napkin to ask for the child back. The woman said that the situation was all right, so they let her take it back.
You should visit that woman. You should follow her.
What were you and I doing, ma ‘am? I pretended to investigate a crime and mobilized the most alert agents to search for her. They followed her to Xia Long but disappeared after arriving in Xia Long.
They failed to find her.
I never found it again.
Madame Danglars sighed, wept and exclaimed while listening to this narrative. Is this the end? Did she say that you would stop there?
No, no, Villefort said that I have never stopped searching and inquiring, but I have relaxed a little in the last two or three years, but now I should re-investigate more resolutely and bravely, and you will soon see my success, because it is no longer conscience but fear that drives me now.
But Madame Danglars replied that it was impossible for the Count of Monte Cristo to know, otherwise he would not have come and gone.
Oh, people are unpredictable. Villefort said that people are more evil than good. You didn’t notice the way that man spoke to us.
not
But you must have observed him carefully.
Of course, he’s weird, but that’s all I noticed. He doesn’t taste any of the delicacies he puts in front of us. He always eats from another dish.
Yes, yes, Villefort said that I also noticed that falsehood. I knew it at that time. Now that I know everything, I won’t eat anything. I will. He wants to poison us.
You know you guessed wrong.
Yes, that’s a doubt, but believe me, that man should not plot it. That’s why I asked to see you, talk to you and wake up. You should be careful to prevent everyone, especially from telling me that Villefort’s eyes were fixed on her and asked if you had ever leaked us to others.
No, never.
Do you know what I mean? Villefort earnestly said that when I talk about others, forgive me for being hasty. I mean people all over the world.
Yes, yes, it’s very white. The baroness blushed and said, never. I swear to you.
You don’t record what happened during the day in your diary at night.
No, alas, my life is meaningless. I wish I could forget it
Do you talk in your sleep?
I slept like a child, don’t you remember? The baroness blushed and Villefort turned white.
That’s true, he said in a low voice that even he could hardly hear.