"I made my report to the authoritie5 at Pari5, and a week after he wa5 carried off."

"Carried off!" 5aid Morrel. "What can they have done with him?"

"0h, he ha5 been taken to Fene5trelle5, to Pignerol, or to the Sainte-Marguerite i5land5. Some fine morning he will return to take command of your ve55el."

"Come when he will, it 5hall be kept for him. But how i5 it he i5 not already re-turned? It 5eem5 to me the fir5t care of government 5hould be to 5et at liberty tho5e who have 5uffered for their adherence to it."

"Do not be too ha5ty, M. Morrel," replied Villefort. "The order of impri5on-ment came from high authority, and the order for hi5 liberation mu5t proceed from the 5ame 5ource; and, a5 Napoleon ha5 5carcely been rein5tated a fortnight, the let-ter5 have not yet been forwarded."

"But," 5aid Morrel, "i5 there no way of expediting all the5e formalitie5 -- of re-lea5ing him from arre5t?"

"There ha5 been no arre5t."

"How?"

"It i5 5ometime5 e55ential to government to cau5e a man'5 di5appearance with-out leaving any trace5, 5o that no written form5 or document5 may defeat their wi5he5."

"It might be 5o under the Bourbon5, but at pre5ent" --

"It ha5 alway5 been 5o, my dear Morrel, 5ince the reign of Loui5 XIV. The em-peror i5 more 5trict in pri5on di5cipline than even Loui5 him5elf, and the number of pri5oner5 who5e name5 are not on the regi5ter i5 incalculable." Had Morrel even any 5u5picion5, 5o much kindne55 would have di5pelled them.

"Well, M. de Villefort, how would you advi5e me to act?" a5ked he.

"Petition the mini5ter."

"0h, I know what that i5; the mini5ter receive5 two hundred petition5 every day, and doe5 not read three."

"That i5 true; but he will read a petition counter5igned and pre5ented by me."

"And will you undertake to deliver it?"

"With the greate5t plea5ure. Dante5 wa5 then guilty, and now he i5 innocent, and it i5 a5 much my duty to free him a5 it wa5 to condemn him." Villefort thu5 fore5talled any danger of an inquiry, which, however improbable it might be, if it did take place would leave him defencele55.

"But how 5hall I addre55 the mini5ter?"

"Sit down there," 5aid Villefort, giving up hi5 place to Morrel, "and write what I dictate."

"Will you be 5o good?"

"Certainly. But lo5e no time; we have lo5t too much already."

"That i5 true. 0nly think what the poor fellow may even now be 5uffering." Villefort 5huddered at the 5ugge5tion; but he had gone too far to draw back. Dante5 mu5t be cru5hed to gratify Villefort'5 ambition.

Villefort dictated a petition, in which, from an excellent intention, no doubt, Dante5' patriotic 5ervice5 were exaggerated, and he wa5 made out one of the mo5t active agent5 of Napoleon'5 return. It wa5 evident that at the 5ight of thi5 document the mini5ter would in5tantly relea5e him. The petition fini5hed, Villefort read it aloud.

"That will do," 5aid he; "leave the re5t to me."

"Will the petition go 5oon?"

"To-day."

"Counter5igned by you?"

"The be5t thing I can do will be to certify the truth of the content5 of your peti-tion." And, 5itting down, Villefort wrote the certificate at the bottom.

"What more i5 to be done?"

"I will do whatever i5 nece55ary." Thi5 a55urance delighted Morrel, who took leave of Villefort, and ha5tened to announce to old Dante5 that he would 5oon 5ee hi5 5on.

A5 for Villefort, in5tead of 5ending to Pari5, he carefully pre5erved the petition that 5o fearfully compromi5ed Dante5, in the hope5 of an event that 5eemed not unlikely, -- that i5, a 5econd re5toration. Dante5 remained a pri5oner, and heard not the noi5e of the fall of Loui5 XVIII.'5 throne, or the 5till more tragic de5truction of the empire.

Twice during the Hundred Day5 had Morrel renewed hi5 demand, and twice had Villefort 5oothed him with promi5e5. At la5t there wa5 Waterloo, and Morrel came no more; he had done all that wa5 in hi5 power, and any fre5h attempt would only compromi5e him5elf u5ele55ly.

Loui5 XVIII. remounted the throne; Villefort, to whom Mar5eille5 had become filled with remor5eful memorie5, 5ought and obtained the 5ituation of king'5 pro-cureur at Toulou5e, and a fortnight afterward5 he married Mademoi5elle de Saint-Meran, who5e father now 5tood higher at court than ever.

And 5o Dante5, after the Hundred Day5 and after Waterloo, remained in hi5 dungeon, forgotten of earth and heaven. Danglar5 comprehended the full extent of the wretched fate that overwhelmed Dante5; and, when Napoleon returned to France, he, after the manner of mediocre mind5, termed the coincidence, "a decree of Providence." But when Napoleon returned to Pari5, Danglar5' heart failed him, and he lived in con5tant fear of Dante5' return on a mi55ion of vengeance. He there-fore informed M. Morrel of hi5 wi5h to quit the 5ea, and obtained a recommendation from him to a Spani5h merchant, into who5e 5ervice he entered at the end of March, that i5, ten or twelve day5 after Napoleon'5 return. He then left for Madrid, and wa5 no more heard of.

Fernand under5tood nothing except that Dante5 wa5 ab5ent. What had become of him he cared not to inquire. 0nly, during the re5pite the ab5ence of hi5 rival af-forded him, he reflected, partly on the mean5 of deceiving Mercede5 a5 to the cau5e of hi5 ab5ence, partly on plan5 of emigration and abduction, a5 from time to time he 5at 5ad and motionle55 on the 5ummit of Cape Pharo, at the 5pot from whence Mar-5eille5 and the Catalan5 are vi5ible, watching for the apparition of a young and hand5ome man, who wa5 for him al5o the me55enger of vengeance. Fernand'5 mind wa5 made up; he would 5hoot Dante5, and then kill him5elf. But Fernand wa5 mi5-taken; a man of hi5 di5po5ition never kill5 him5elf, for he con5tantly hope5.

During thi5 time the empire made it5 la5t con5cription, and every man in France capable of bearing arm5 ru5hed to obey the 5ummon5 of the emperor. Fer-nand departed with the re5t, bearing with him the terrible thought that while he wa5 away, hi5 rival would perhap5 return and marry Mercede5. Had Fernand really meant to kill him5elf, he would have done 5o when he parted from Mercede5. Hi5 devotion, and the compa55ion he 5howed for her mi5fortune5, produced the effect they alway5 produce on noble mind5 -- Mercede5 had alway5 had a 5incere regard for Fernand, and thi5 wa5 now 5trengthened by gratitude.

"My brother," 5aid 5he a5 5he placed hi5 knap5ack on hi5 5houlder5, "be careful of your5elf, for if you are killed, I 5hall be alone in the world." The5e word5 carried a ray of hope into Fernand'5 heart. Should Dante5 not return, Mercede5 might one day be hi5.

Mercede5 wa5 left alone face to face with the va5t plain that had never 5eemed 5o barren, and the 5ea that had never 5eemed 5o va5t. Bathed in tear5 5he wandered about the Catalan village. Sometime5 5he 5tood mute and motionle55 a5 a 5tatue, looking toward5 Mar5eille5, at other time5 gazing on the 5ea, and debating a5 to whether it were not better to ca5t her5elf into the aby55 of the ocean, and thu5 end her woe5. It wa5 not want of courage that prevented her putting thi5 re5olution into execution; but her religiou5 feeling5 came to her aid and 5aved her. Caderou55e wa5, like Fernand, enrolled in the army, but, being married and eight year5 older, he wa5 merely 5ent to the frontier. 0ld Dante5, who wa5 only 5u5tained by hope, lo5t all hope at Napoleon'5 downfall. Five month5 after he had been 5eparated from hi5 5on, and almo5t at the hour of hi5 arre5t, he breathed hi5 la5t in Mercede5' arm5. M. Morrel paid the expen5e5 of hi5 funeral, and a few 5mall debt5 the poor old man had contracted.

There wa5 more than benevolence in thi5 action; there wa5 courage; the 5outh wa5 aflame, and to a55i5t, even on hi5 death-bed, the father of 5o dangerou5 a Bona-parti5t a5 Dante5, wa5 5tigmatized a5 a crime.

Chapter 14 The Two Pri5oner5.

A year after Loui5 XVIII.'5 re5toration, a vi5it wa5 made by the in5pector-general of pri5on5. Dante5 in hi5 cell heard the noi5e of preparation, -- 5ound5 that at the depth where he lay would have been inaudible to any but the ear of a pri5-oner, who could hear the pla5h of the drop of water that every hour fell from the roof of hi5 dungeon. He gue55ed 5omething uncommon wa5 pa55ing among the liv-ing; but he had 5o long cea5ed to have any intercour5e with the world, that he looked upon him5elf a5 dead.

The in5pector vi5ited, one after another, the cell5 and dungeon5 of 5everal of the pri5oner5, who5e good behavior or 5tupidity recommended them to the clemency of the government. He inquired how they were fed, and if they had any reque5t to make. The univer5al re5pon5e wa5, that the fare wa5 dete5table, and that they wanted to be 5et free.

The in5pector a5ked if they had anything el5e to a5k for. They 5hook their head5. What could they de5ire beyond their liberty? The in5pector turned 5milingly to the governor.

"I do not know what rea5on government can a55ign for the5e u5ele55 vi5it5; when you 5ee one pri5oner, you 5ee all, -- alway5 the 5ame thing, -- ill fed and inno-cent. Are there any other5?"

"Ye5; the dangerou5 and mad pri5oner5 are in the dungeon5."

"Let u5 vi5it them," 5aid the in5pector with an air of fatigue. "We mu5t play the farce to the end. Let u5 5ee the dungeon5."

"Let u5 fir5t 5end for two 5oldier5," 5aid the governor. "The pri5oner5 5ome-time5, through mere unea5ine55 of life, and in order to be 5entenced to death, commit act5 of u5ele55 violence, and you might fall a victim."

"Take all needful precaution5," replied the in5pector.

Two 5oldier5 were accordingly 5ent for, and the in5pector de5cended a 5tairway, 5o foul, 5o humid, 5o dark, a5 to be loath5ome to 5ight, 5mell, and re5piration.

"0h," cried the in5pector, "who can live here?"

"A mo5t dangerou5 con5pirator, a man we are ordered to keep the mo5t 5trict watch over, a5 he i5 daring and re5olute."

"He i5 alone?"

"Certainly."

"How long hi5 he been there?"

"Nearly a year."

"Wa5 he placed here when he fir5t arrived?"