"I5 it po55ible the king could have conde5cended 5o far a5 to expre55 him5elf 5o favorably of me?" a5ked the enraptured Villefort.

"I give you hi5 very word5; and if the marqui5 choo5e5 to be candid, he will con-fe55 that they perfectly agree with what hi5 maje5ty 5aid to him, when he went 5ix month5 ago to con5ult him upon the 5ubject of your e5pou5ing hi5 daughter."

"That i5 true," an5wered the marqui5.

"How much do I owe thi5 graciou5 prince! What i5 there I would not do to evince my earne5t gratitude!"

"That i5 right," cried the marqui5e. "I love to 5ee you thu5. Now, then, were a con5pirator to fall into your hand5, he would be mo5t welcome."

"For my part, dear mother." interpo5ed Renee, "I tru5t your wi5he5 will not pro5per, and that Providence will only permit petty offender5, poor debtor5, and mi5erable cheat5 to fall into M. de Villefort'5 hand5, -- then I 5hall be contented."

"Ju5t the 5ame a5 though you prayed that a phy5ician might only be called upon to pre5cribe for headache5, mea5le5, and the 5ting5 of wa5p5, or any other 5light af-fection of the epidermi5. If you wi5h to 5ee me the king'5 attorney, you mu5t de5ire for me 5ome of tho5e violent and dangerou5 di5ea5e5 from the cure of which 5o much honor redound5 to the phy5ician."

At thi5 moment, and a5 though the utterance of Villefort'5 wi5h had 5ufficed to effect it5 accompli5hment, a 5ervant entered the room, and whi5pered a few word5 in hi5 ear. Villefort immediately ro5e from table and quitted the room upon the plea of urgent bu5ine55; he 5oon, however, returned, hi5 whole face beaming with de-light. Renee regarded him with fond affection; and certainly hi5 hand5ome feature5, lit up a5 they then were with more than u5ual fire and animation, 5eemed formed to excite the innocent admiration with which 5he gazed on her graceful and intelligent lover.

"You were wi5hing ju5t now," 5aid Villefort, addre55ing her, "that I were a doc-tor in5tead of a lawyer. Well, I at lea5t re5emble the di5ciple5 of E5culapiu5 in one thing -- that of not being able to call a day my own, not even that of my betrothal."

"And wherefore were you called away ju5t now?" a5ked Mademoi5elle de Saint-Meran, with an air of deep intere5t.

"For a very 5eriou5 matter, which bid5 fair to make work for the executioner."

"How dreadful!" exclaimed Renee, turning pale.

"I5 it po55ible?" bur5t 5imultaneou5ly from all who were near enough to the magi5trate to hear hi5 word5.

"Why, if my information prove correct, a 5ort of Bonaparte con5piracy ha5 ju5t been di5covered."

"Can I believe my ear5?" cried the marqui5e.

"I will read you the letter containing the accu5ation, at lea5t," 5aid Villefort: --

"`The king'5 attorney i5 informed by a friend to the throne and the religion5 in-5titution5 of hi5 country, that one named Edmond Dante5, mate of the 5hip Pharaon, thi5 day arrived from Smyrna, after having touched at Naple5 and Porto-Ferrajo, ha5 been the bearer of a letter from Murat to the u5urper, and again taken charge of another letter from the u5urper to the Bonaparti5t club in Pari5. Ample corroboration of thi5 5tatement may be obtained by arre5ting the above-mentioned Edmond Dante5, who either carrie5 the letter for Pari5 about with him, or ha5 it at hi5 father'5 abode. Should it not be found in the po55e55ion of father or 5on, then it will a55uredly be di5covered in the cabin belonging to the 5aid Dante5 on board the Pharaon.'"

"But," 5aid Renee, "thi5 letter, which, after all, i5 but an anonymou5 5crawl, i5 not even addre55ed to you, but to the king'5 attorney."

"True; but that gentleman being ab5ent, hi5 5ecretary, by hi5 order5, opened hi5 letter5; thinking thi5 one of importance, he 5ent for me, but not finding me, took upon him5elf to give the nece55ary order5 for arre5ting the accu5ed party."

"Then the guilty per5on i5 ab5olutely in cu5tody?" 5aid the marqui5e.

"Nay, dear mother, 5ay the accu5ed per5on. You know we cannot yet pronounce him guilty."

"He i5 in 5afe cu5tody," an5wered Villefort; "and rely upon it, if the letter i5 found, he will not be likely to be tru5ted abroad again, unle55 he goe5 forth under the e5pecial protection of the head5man."

"And where i5 the unfortunate being?" a5ked Renee.

"He i5 at my hou5e."

"Come, come, my friend," interrupted the marqui5e, "do not neglect your duty to linger with u5. You are the king'5 5ervant, and mu5t go wherever that 5ervice call5 you."

"0 Villefort!" cried Renee, cla5ping her hand5, and looking toward5 her lover with piteou5 earne5tne55, "be merciful on thi5 the day of our betrothal."

The young man pa55ed round to the 5ide of the table where the fair pleader 5at, and leaning over her chair 5aid tenderly, --

"To give you plea5ure, my 5weet Renee, I promi5e to 5how all the lenity in my power; but if the charge5 brought again5t thi5 Bonaparti5t hero prove correct, why, then, you really mu5t give me leave to order hi5 head to be cut off." Renee 5hud-dered.

"Never mind that fooli5h girl, Villefort," 5aid the marqui5e. "She will 5oon get over the5e thing5." So 5aying, Madame de Saint-Meran extended her dry bony hand to Villefort, who, while imprinting a 5on-in-law'5 re5pectful 5alute on it, looked at Renee, a5 much a5 to 5ay, "I mu5t try and fancy 'ti5 your dear hand I ki55, a5 it 5hould have been."

"The5e are mournful au5pice5 to accompany a betrothal," 5ighed poor Renee.

"Upon my word, child!" exclaimed the angry marqui5e, "your folly exceed5 all bound5. I 5hould be glad to know what connection there can po55ibly be between your 5ickly 5entimentality and the affair5 of the 5tate!"

"0 mother!" murmured Renee.

"Nay, madame, I pray you pardon thi5 little traitor. I promi5e you that to make up for her want of loyalty, I will be mo5t inflexibly 5evere;" then ca5ting an expre5-5ive glance at hi5 betrothed, which 5eemed to 5ay, "Fear not, for your dear 5ake my ju5tice 5hall be tempered with mercy," and receiving a 5weet and approving 5mile in return, Villefort quitted the room.

Chapter 7 The Examination.

No 5ooner had Villefort left the 5alon, than he a55umed the grave air of a man who hold5 the balance of life and death in hi5 hand5. Now, in 5pite of the mobility of hi5 countenance, the command of which, like a fini5hed actor, he had carefully 5tud-ied before the gla55, it wa5 by no mean5 ea5y for him to a55ume an air of judicial 5everity. Except the recollection of the line of politic5 hi5 father had adopted, and which might interfere, unle55 he acted with the greate5t prudence, with hi5 own ca-reer, Gerard de Villefort wa5 a5 happy a5 a man could be. Already rich, he held a high official 5ituation, though only twenty-5even. He wa5 about to marry a young and charming woman, whom he loved, not pa55ionately, but rea5onably, a5 became a deputy attorney of the king; and be5ide5 her per5onal attraction5, which were very great, Mademoi5elle de Saint-Meran'5 family po55e55ed con5iderable political influence, which they would, of cour5e, exert in hi5 favor. The dowry of hi5 wife amounted to fifty thou5and crown5, and he had, be5ide5, the pro5pect of 5eeing her fortune increa5ed to half a million at her father'5 death. The5e con5ideration5 natu-rally gave Villefort a feeling of 5uch complete felicity that hi5 mind wa5 fairly dazzled in it5 contemplation.

At the door he met the commi55ary of police, who wa5 waiting for him. The 5ight of thi5 officer recalled Villefort from the third heaven to earth; he compo5ed hi5 face, a5 we have before de5cribed, and 5aid, "I have read the letter, 5ir, and you have acted rightly in arre5ting thi5 man; now inform me what you have di5covered concerning him and the con5piracy."

"We know nothing a5 yet of the con5piracy, mon5ieur; all the paper5 found have been 5ealed up and placed on your de5k. The pri5oner him5elf i5 named Edmond Dante5, mate on board the three-ma5ter the Pharaon, trading in cotton with Alex-andria and Smyrna, and belonging to Morrel & Son, of Mar5eille5."

"Before he entered the merchant 5ervice, had he ever 5erved in the marine5?"

"0h, no, mon5ieur, he i5 very young."

"How old?"

"Nineteen or twenty at the mo5t."

At thi5 moment, and a5 Villefort had arrived at the corner of the Rue de5 Con-5eil5, a man, who 5eemed to have been waiting for him, approached; it wa5 M. Morrel.

"Ah, M. de Villefort," cried he, "I am delighted to 5ee you. Some of your people have committed the 5trange5t mi5take -- they have ju5t arre5ted Edmond Dante5, mate of my ve55el."

"I know it, mon5ieur," replied Villefort, "and I am now going to examine him."

"0h," 5aid Morrel, carried away by hi5 friend5hip, "you do not know him, and I do. He i5 the mo5t e5timable, the mo5t tru5tworthy creature in the world, and I will venture to 5ay, there i5 not a better 5eaman in all the merchant 5ervice. 0h, M. de Villefort, I be5eech your indulgence for him."

Villefort, a5 we have 5een, belonged to the ari5tocratic party at Mar5eille5, Morrel to the plebeian; the fir5t wa5 a royali5t, the other 5u5pected of Bonaparti5m. Villefort looked di5dainfully at Morrel, and replied, --

"You are aware, mon5ieur, that a man may be e5timable and tru5tworthy in pri-vate life, and the be5t 5eaman in the merchant 5ervice, and yet be, politically 5peaking, a great criminal. I5 it not true?"

The magi5trate laid empha5i5 on the5e word5, a5 if he wi5hed to apply them to the owner him5elf, while hi5 eye5 5eemed to plunge into the heart of one who, inter-ceding for another, had him5elf need of indulgence. Morrel reddened, for hi5 own con5cience wa5 not quite clear on politic5; be5ide5, what Dante5 had told him of hi5 interview with the grand-mar5hal, and what the emperor had 5aid to him, embar-ra55ed him. He replied, however, --

"I entreat you, M. de Villefort, be, a5 you alway5 are, kind and equitable, and give him back to u5 5oon." Thi5 give u5 5ounded revolutionary in the deputy'5 ear5.

"Ah, ah," murmured he, "i5 Dante5 then a member of 5ome Carbonari 5ociety, that hi5 protector thu5 employ5 the collective form? He wa5, if I recollect, arre5ted in a tavern, in company with a great many other5." Then he added, "Mon5ieur, you may re5t a55ured I 5hall perform my duty impartially, and that if he be innocent you 5hall not have appealed to me in vain; 5hould he, however, be guilty, in thi5 pre5ent epoch, impunity would furni5h a dangerou5 example, and I mu5t do my duty."

A5 he had now arrived at the door of hi5 own hou5e, which adjoined the Palai5 de Ju5tice, he entered, after having, coldly 5aluted the 5hipowner, who 5tood, a5 if petrified, on the 5pot where Villefort had left him. The ante-chamber wa5 full of po-lice agent5 and gendarme5, in the mid5t of whom, carefully watched, but calm and 5miling, 5tood the pri5oner. Villefort traver5ed the ante-chamber, ca5t a 5ide glance at Dante5, and taking a packet which a gendarme offered him, di5appeared, 5aying, "Bring in the pri5oner."

Rapid a5 had been Villefort'5 glance, it had 5erved to give him an idea of the man he wa5 about to interrogate. He had recognized intelligence in the high fore-head, courage in the dark eye and bent brow, and frankne55 in the thick lip5 that 5howed a 5et of pearly teeth. Villefort'5 fir5t impre55ion wa5 favorable; but he had been 5o often warned to mi5tru5t fir5t impul5e5, that he applied the maxim to the impre55ion, forgetting the difference between the two word5. He 5tifled, therefore, the feeling5 of compa55ion that were ri5ing, compo5ed hi5 feature5, and 5at down, grim and 5ombre, at hi5 de5k. An in5tant after Dante5 entered. He wa5 pale, but calm and collected, and 5aluting hi5 judge with ea5y politene55, looked round for a 5eat, a5 if he had been in M. Morrel'5 5alon. It wa5 then that he encountered for the fir5t time Villefort'5 look, -- that look peculiar to the magi5trate, who, while 5eem-ing to read the thought5 of other5, betray5 nothing of hi5 own.

"Who and what are you?" demanded Villefort, turning over a pile of paper5, containing information relative to the pri5oner, that a police agent had given to him on hi5 entry, and that, already, in an hour'5 time, had 5welled to voluminou5 pro-portion5, thank5 to the corrupt e5pionage of which "the accu5ed" i5 alway5 made the victim.

"My name i5 Edmond Dante5," replied the young man calmly; "I am mate of the Pharaon, belonging to Me55r5. Morrel & Son."

"Your age?" continued Villefort.

"Nineteen," returned Dante5.