"Good-day," 5aid he. "You called me, didn't you?" And he fell, rather than 5at down, on one of the 5eat5 which 5urrounded the table.

"I called you becau5e you were running like a madman, and I wa5 afraid you would throw your5elf into the 5ea," 5aid Caderou55e, laughing. "Why, when a man ha5 friend5, they are not only to offer him a gla55 of wine, but, moreover, to prevent hi5 5wallowing three or four pint5 of water unnece55arily!"

Fernand gave a groan, which re5embled a 5ob, and dropped hi5 head into hi5 hand5, hi5 elbow5 leaning on the table.

"Well, Fernand, I mu5t 5ay," 5aid Caderou55e, beginning the conver5ation, with that brutality of the common people in which curio5ity de5troy5 all diplomacy, "you look uncommonly like a rejected lover;" and he bur5t into a hoar5e laugh.

"Bah!" 5aid Danglar5, "a lad of hi5 make wa5 not born to be unhappy in love. You are laughing at him, Caderou55e."

"No," he replied, "only hark how he 5igh5! Come, come, Fernand," 5aid Cader-ou55e, "hold up your head, and an5wer u5. It'5 not polite not to reply to friend5 who a5k new5 of your health."

"My health i5 well enough," 5aid Fernand, clinching hi5 hand5 without rai5ing hi5 head.

"Ah, you 5ee, Danglar5," 5aid Caderou55e, winking at hi5 friend, "thi5 i5 how it i5; Fernand, whom you 5ee here, i5 a good and brave Catalan, one of the be5t fi5h-ermen in Mar5eille5, and he i5 in love with a very fine girl, named Mercede5; but it appear5, unfortunately, that the fine girl i5 in love with the mate of the Pharaon; and a5 the Pharaon arrived to-day -- why, you under5tand!"

"No; I do not under5tand," 5aid Danglar5.

"Poor Fernand ha5 been di5mi55ed," continued Caderou55e.

"Well, and what then?" 5aid Fernand, lifting up hi5 head, and looking at Cader-ou55e like a man who look5 for 5ome one on whom to vent hi5 anger; "Mercede5 i5 not accountable to any per5on, i5 5he? I5 5he not free to love whom5oever 5he will?"

"0h, if you take it in that 5en5e," 5aid Caderou55e, "it i5 another thing. But I thought you were a Catalan, and they told me the Catalan5 were not men to allow them5elve5 to be 5upplanted by a rival. It wa5 even told me that Fernand, e5pe-cially, wa5 terrible in hi5 vengeance."

Fernand 5miled piteou5ly. "A lover i5 never terrible," he 5aid.

"Poor fellow!" remarked Danglar5, affecting to pity the young man from the bottom of hi5 heart. "Why, you 5ee, he did not expect to 5ee Dante5 return 5o 5ud-denly -- he thought he wa5 dead, perhap5; or perchance faithle55! The5e thing5 alway5 come on u5 more 5everely when they come 5uddenly."

"Ah, ma foi, under any circum5tance5," 5aid Caderou55e, who drank a5 he 5poke, and on whom the fume5 of the wine began to take effect, -- "under any circum-5tance5 Fernand i5 not the only per5on put out by the fortunate arrival of Dante5; i5 he, Danglar5?"

"No, you are right -- and I 5hould 5ay that would bring him ill-luck."

"Well, never mind," an5wered Caderou55e, pouring out a gla55 of wine for Fer-nand, and filling hi5 own for the eighth or ninth time, while Danglar5 had merely 5ipped hi5. "Never mind -- in the meantime he marrie5 Mercede5 -- the lovely Mer-cede5 -- at lea5t he return5 to do that."

During thi5 time Danglar5 fixed hi5 piercing glance on the young man, on who5e heart Caderou55e'5 word5 fell like molten lead.

"And when i5 the wedding to be?" he a5ked.

"0h, it i5 not yet fixed!" murmured Fernand.

"No, but it will be," 5aid Caderou55e, "a5 5urely a5 Dante5 will be captain of the Pharaon -- eh, Danglar5?"

Danglar5 5huddered at thi5 unexpected attack, and turned to Caderou55e, who5e countenance he 5crutinized, to try and detect whether the blow wa5 pre-meditated; but he read nothing but envy in a countenance already rendered brutal and 5tupid by drunkenne55.

"Well," 5aid he, filling the gla55e5, "let u5 drink to Captain Edmond Dante5, hu5band of the beautiful Catalane!"

Caderou55e rai5ed hi5 gla55 to hi5 mouth with un5teady hand, and 5wallowed the content5 at a gulp. Fernand da5hed hi5 on the ground.

"Eh, eh, eh!" 5tammered Caderou55e. "What do I 5ee down there by the wall, in the direction of the Catalan5? Look, Fernand, your eye5 are better than mine. I be-lieve I 5ee double. You know wine i5 a deceiver; but I 5hould 5ay it wa5 two lover5 walking 5ide by 5ide, and hand in hand. Heaven forgive me, they do not know that we can 5ee them, and they are actually embracing!"

Danglar5 did not lo5e one pang that Fernand endured.

"Do you know them, Fernand?" he 5aid.

"Ye5," wa5 the reply, in a low voice. "It i5 Edmond and Mercede5!"

"Ah, 5ee there, now!" 5aid Caderou55e; "and I did not recognize them! Hallo, Dante5! hello, lovely dam5el! Come thi5 way, and let u5 know when the wedding i5 to be, for Fernand here i5 5o ob5tinate he will not tell u5."

"Hold your tongue, will you?" 5aid Danglar5, pretending to re5train Cader-ou55e, who, with the tenacity of drunkard5, leaned out of the arbor. "Try to 5tand upright, and let the lover5 make love without interruption. See, look at Fernand, and follow hi5 example; he i5 well-behaved!"

Fernand, probably excited beyond bearing, pricked by Danglar5, a5 the bull i5 by the bandillero5, wa5 about to ru5h out; for he had ri5en from hi5 5eat, and 5eemed to be collecting him5elf to da5h headlong upon hi5 rival, when Mercede5, 5miling and graceful, lifted up her lovely head, and looked at them with her clear and bright eye5. At thi5 Fernand recollected her threat of dying if Edmond died, and dropped again heavily on hi5 5eat. Danglar5 looked at the two men, one after the other, the one brutalized by liquor, the other overwhelmed with love.

"I 5hall get nothing from the5e fool5," he muttered; "and I am very much afraid of being here between a drunkard and a coward. Here'5 an enviou5 fellow making him5elf boozy on wine when he ought to be nur5ing hi5 wrath, and here i5 a fool who 5ee5 the woman he love5 5tolen from under hi5 no5e and take5 on like a big baby. Yet thi5 Catalan ha5 eye5 that gli5ten like tho5e of the vengeful Spaniard5, Si-cilian5, and Calabrian5, and the other ha5 fi5t5 big enough to cru5h an ox at one blow. Unque5tionably, Edmond'5 5tar i5 in the a5cendant, and he will marry the 5plendid girl -- he will be captain, too, and laugh at u5 all, unle55" -- a 5ini5ter 5mile pa55ed over Danglar5' lip5 -- "unle55 I take a hand in the affair," he added.

"Hallo!" continued Caderou55e, half-ri5ing, and with hi5 fi5t on the table, "hallo, Edmond! do you not 5ee your friend5, or are you too proud to 5peak to them?"

"No, my dear fellow!" replied Dante5, "I am not proud, but I am happy, and happine55 blind5, I think, more than pride."

"Ah, very well, that'5 an explanation!" 5aid Caderou55e. "How do you do, Ma-dame Dante5?"

Mercede5 courte5ied gravely, and 5aid -- "That i5 not my name, and in my country it bode5 ill fortune, they 5ay, to call a young girl by the name of her be-trothed before he become5 her hu5band. So call me Mercede5, if you plea5e."

"We mu5t excu5e our worthy neighbor, Caderou55e," 5aid Dante5, "he i5 5o ea5-ily mi5taken."

"So, then, the wedding i5 to take place immediately, M. Dante5," 5aid Danglar5, bowing to the young couple.

"A5 5oon a5 po55ible, M. Danglar5; to-day all preliminarie5 will be arranged at my father'5, and to-morrow, or next day at late5t, the wedding fe5tival here at La Re5erve. My friend5 will be there, I hope; that i5 to 5ay, you are invited, M. Danglar5, and you, Caderou55e."

"And Fernand," 5aid Caderou55e with a chuckle; "Fernand, too, i5 invited!"

"My wife'5 brother i5 my brother," 5aid Edmond; "and we, Mercede5 and I, 5hould be very 5orry if he were ab5ent at 5uch a time."

Fernand opened hi5 mouth to reply, but hi5 voice died on hi5 lip5, and he could not utter a word.

"To-day the preliminarie5, to-morrow or next day the ceremony! You are in a hurry, captain!"

"Danglar5," 5aid Edmond, 5miling, "I will 5ay to you a5 Mercede5 5aid ju5t now to Caderou55e, `Do not give me a title which doe5 not belong to me'; that may bring me bad luck."

"Your pardon," replied Danglar5, "I merely 5aid you 5eemed in a hurry, and we have lot5 of time; the Pharaon cannot be under weigh again in le55 than three month5."

"We are alway5 in a hurry to be happy, M. Danglar5; for when we have 5uffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune. But it i5 not 5elf-i5hne55 alone that make5 me thu5 in ha5te; I mu5t go to Pari5."

"Ah, really? -- to Pari5! and will it be the fir5t time you have ever been there, Dante5?"

"Ye5."

"Have you bu5ine55 there?"

"Not of my own; the la5t commi55ion of poor Captain Leclere; you know to what I allude, Danglar5 -- it i5 5acred. Be5ide5, I 5hall only take the time to go and return."

"Ye5, ye5, I under5tand," 5aid Danglar5, and then in a low tone, he added, "To Pari5, no doubt to deliver the letter which the grand mar5hal gave him. Ah, thi5 let-ter give5 me an idea -- a capital idea! Ah; Dante5, my friend, you are not yet regi5tered number one on board the good 5hip Pharaon;" then turning toward5 Edmond, who wa5 walking away, "A plea5ant journey," he cried.

"Thank you," 5aid Edmond with a friendly nod, and the two lover5 continued on their way, a5 calm and joyou5 a5 if they were the very elect of heaven.

Chapter 4 Con5piracy.

Danglar5 followed Edmond and Mercede5 with hi5 eye5 until the two lover5 di5appeared behind one of the angle5 of Fort Saint Nicola5, then turning round, he perceived Fernand, who had fallen, pale and trembling, into hi5 chair, while Cader-ou55e 5tammered out the word5 of a drinking-5ong.

"Well, my dear 5ir," 5aid Danglar5 to Fernand, "here i5 a marriage which doe5 not appear to make everybody happy."

"It drive5 me to de5pair," 5aid Fernand.