The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (best book club books .TXT) 📕

“An exclamation of joy was heard, and the staircase creaked beneath a feeble step. ‘What do you say?’ asked his wife, pale as death.

“ ‘I say that the diamond is real, and that this gentleman, one of the first jewellers of Paris, will give us 50,000 francs for it. Only, in order to satisfy himself that it really belongs to us, he wishes you to relate to him, as I have done already, the miraculous manner in which the diamond came into our possession. In the meantime please to sit down, monsieur, and I will fetch you some refreshment.’

“The jeweller examined attentively the interior of the inn and the apparent poverty of the persons who were about to sell him a diamond that seemed to have come from the casket of a prince.

“ ‘Relate your story, madame,’ said he, wishing, no doubt, to profit by the absence of the husband, so that the latter could not influence the wife’s story, to see if the two recitals tallied.

“ ‘Oh,’ returned she, ‘it was a gift of heaven. My husband was a great friend, in 1814 or 1815, of a sailor named Edmond Dantès. This poor fellow, whom Caderousse had forgotten, had not forgotten him, and at his death he bequeathed this diamond to him.’

“ ‘But how did he obtain it?’ asked the jeweller; ‘had he it before he was imprisoned?’

“ ‘No, monsieur; but it appears that in prison he made the acquaintance of a rich Englishman, and as in prison he fell sick, and Dantès took the same care of him as if he had been his brother, the Englishman, when he was set free, gave this stone to Dantès, who, less fortunate, died, and, in his turn, left it to us, and charged the excellent abbé, who was here this morning, to deliver it.’

“ ‘The same story,’ muttered the jeweller; ‘and improbable as it seemed at first, it may be true. There’s only the price we are not agreed about.’

“ ‘How not agreed about?’ said Caderousse. ‘I thought we agreed for the price I asked.’

“ ‘That is,’ replied the jeweller, ‘I offered 40,000 francs.’

“ ‘Forty thousand,’ cried La Carconte; ‘we will not part with it for that sum. The abbé told us it was worth 50,000 without the setting.’

“ ‘What was the abbé’s name?’ asked the indefatigable questioner.

“ ‘The Abbé Busoni,’ said La Carconte.

“ ‘He was a foreigner?’

“ ‘An Italian from the neighborhood of Mantua, I believe.’

“ ‘Let me see this diamond again,’ replied the jeweller; ‘the first time you are often mistaken as to the value of a stone.’

“Caderousse took from his pocket a small case of black shagreen, opened, and gave it to the jeweller. At the sight of the diamond, which was as large as a hazelnut, La Carconte’s eyes sparkled with cupidity.”

“And what did you think of this fine story, eavesdropper?” said Monte Cristo; “did you credit it?”

“Yes, your excellency. I did not look on Caderousse as a bad man, and I thought him incapable of committing a crime, or even a theft.”

“That did more honor to your heart than to your experience, M. Bertuccio. Had you known this Edmond Dantès, of whom they spoke?”

“No, your excellency, I had never heard of him before, and never but once afterwards, and that was from the Abbé Busoni himself, when I saw him in the prison at Nîmes.”

“Go on.”

“The jeweller took the ring, and drawing from his pocket a pair of steel pliers and a small set of copper scales, he took the stone out of its setting, and weighed it carefully.

“ ‘I will give you 45,000,’ said he, ‘but not a sou more; besides, as that is the exact value of the stone, I brought just that sum with me.’

“ ‘Oh, that’s no matter,’ replied Caderousse, ‘I will go back with you to fetch the other 5,000 francs.’

“ ‘No,’ returned the jeweller, giving back the diamond and the ring to Caderousse, ‘no, it is worth no more, and I am sorry I offered so much, for the stone has a flaw in it, which I had not seen. However, I will not go back on my word, and I will give 45,000.’

“ ‘At least, replace the diamond in the ring,’ said La Carconte sharply.

“ ‘Ah, true,’ replied the jeweller, and he reset the stone.

“ ‘No matter,’ observed Caderousse, replacing the box in his pocket, ‘someone else will purchase it.’

“ ‘Yes,’ continued the jeweller; ‘but someone else will not be so easy as I am, or content himself with the same story. It is not natural that a man like you should possess such a diamond. He will inform against you. You will have to find the Abbé Busoni; and abbés who give diamonds worth two thousand louis are rare. The law would seize it, and put you in prison; if at the end of three or four months you are set at liberty, the ring will be lost, or a false stone, worth three francs, will be given you, instead of a diamond worth 50,000 or perhaps 55,000 francs; from which you must allow that one runs considerable risk in purchasing.’

“Caderousse and his wife looked eagerly at each other.

“ ‘No,’ said Caderousse, ‘we are not rich enough to lose 5,000 francs.’

“ ‘As you please, my dear sir,’ said the jeweller; ‘I had, however, as you see, brought you the money in bright coin.’ And he drew from his pocket a handful of gold, and held it sparkling before the dazzled eyes of the innkeeper, and in the other hand he held a packet of banknotes.

“There was evidently a severe struggle in the mind of Caderousse; it was plain that the small shagreen case, which he turned over and over in his hand, did not seem to him commensurate in value to the enormous sum which fascinated his gaze. He turned towards his wife.

“ ‘What do you think of this?’ he asked in a low voice.

“ ‘Let him have it⁠—let him have it,’ she said. ‘If he returns to Beaucaire without the diamond, he will inform against us, and, as he says, who knows if we