The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (best book club books .TXT) π
Description
Edmond DantΓ¨s is a young man about to be made captain of a cargo vessel and marry his sweetheart. But he is arrested at his pre-wedding feast, having been falsely accused of being a Bonapartist. Thrown into the notorious ChΓ’teau dβIf prison, he eventually meets an ancient inmate who teaches him language, science, and passes hints of a hidden fortune. When Edmond makes his way out of prison, he plots to reward those who stood by him (his old employer, for one), and to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him: one who wrote the letter that denounced him, one that married his fiancΓ©e in his absence, and one who knew DantΓ¨s was innocent but stood idly by and did nothing.
The Count of Monte Cristo is another of Alexandre Dumasβ thrilling adventure stories, possibly more popular even than The Three Musketeers. Originally serialized in a French newspaper over the course of a year-and-a-half, it was enormously popular after its publication in book form, and has never been out of print since. Its timeless story of adventure, historical drama, romance, revenge, and Eastern mystery has been the source of over forty movies and TV series.
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- Author: Alexandre Dumas
Read book online Β«The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas (best book club books .TXT) πΒ». Author - Alexandre Dumas
βTouch nothing, my little friend,β cried the count eagerly; βsome of those liquids are not only dangerous to taste, but even to inhale.β
Madame de Villefort became very pale, and, seizing her sonβs arm, drew him anxiously toward her; but, once satisfied of his safety, she also cast a brief but expressive glance on the casket, which was not lost upon the count. At this moment Ali entered. At sight of him Madame de Villefort uttered an expression of pleasure, and, holding the child still closer towards her, she said:
βEdward, dearest, do you see that good man? He has shown very great courage and resolution, for he exposed his own life to stop the horses that were running away with us, and would certainly have dashed the carriage to pieces. Thank him, then, my child, in your very best manner; for, had he not come to our aid, neither you nor I would have been alive to speak our thanks.β
The child stuck out his lips and turned away his head in a disdainful manner, saying, βHeβs too ugly.β
The count smiled as if the child bade fair to realize his hopes, while Madame de Villefort reprimanded her son with a gentleness and moderation very far from conveying the least idea of a fault having been committed.
βThis lady,β said the Count, speaking to Ali in the Arabic language, βis desirous that her son should thank you for saving both their lives; but the boy refuses, saying you are too ugly.β
Ali turned his intelligent countenance towards the boy, on whom he gazed without any apparent emotion; but the spasmodic working of the nostrils showed to the practiced eye of Monte Cristo that the Arab had been wounded to the heart.
βWill you permit me to inquire,β said Madame de Villefort, as she arose to take her leave, βwhether you usually reside here?β
βNo, I do not,β replied Monte Cristo; βit is a small place I have purchased quite lately. My place of abode is No. 30, Avenue des Champs-ΓlysΓ©es; but I see you have quite recovered from your fright, and are, no doubt, desirous of returning home. Anticipating your wishes, I have desired the same horses you came with to be put to one of my carriages, and Ali, he whom you think so very ugly,β continued he, addressing the boy with a smiling air, βwill have the honor of driving you home, while your coachman remains here to attend to the necessary repairs of your calash. As soon as that important business is concluded, I will have a pair of my own horses harnessed to convey it direct to Madame Danglars.β
βI dare not return with those dreadful horses,β said Madame de Villefort.
βYou will see,β replied Monte Cristo, βthat they will be as different as possible in the hands of Ali. With him they will be gentle and docile as lambs.β
Ali had, indeed, given proof of this; for, approaching the animals, who had been got upon their legs with considerable difficulty, he rubbed their foreheads and nostrils with a sponge soaked in aromatic vinegar, and wiped off the sweat and foam that covered their mouths. Then, commencing a loud whistling noise, he rubbed them well all over their bodies for several minutes; then, undisturbed by the noisy crowd collected round the broken carriage, Ali quietly harnessed the pacified animals to the countβs chariot, took the reins in his hands, and mounted the box, when to the utter astonishment of those who had witnessed the ungovernable spirit and maddened speed of the same horses, he was actually compelled to apply his whip in no very gentle manner before he could induce them to start; and even then all that could be obtained from the celebrated βdappled grays,β now changed into a couple of dull, sluggish, stupid brutes, was a slow, pottering pace, kept up with so much difficulty that Madame de Villefort was more than two hours returning to her residence in the Faubourg Saint-HonorΓ©.
Scarcely had the first congratulations upon her marvellous escape been gone through when she wrote the following letter to Madame Danglars:β β
Dear Hermineβ βI have just had a wonderful escape from the most imminent danger, and I owe my safety to the very Count of Monte Cristo we were talking about yesterday, but whom I little expected to see today. I remember how unmercifully I laughed at what I considered your eulogistic and exaggerated praises of him; but I have now ample cause to admit that your enthusiastic description of this wonderful man fell far short of his merits. Your horses got as far as Ranelagh, when they darted forward like mad things, and galloped away at so fearful a rate, that there seemed no other prospect for myself and my poor Edward but that of being dashed to pieces against the first object that impeded their progress, when a strange-looking manβ βan Arab, a negro, or a Nubian, at least a black of some nation or otherβ βat a signal from the count, whose domestic he is, suddenly seized and stopped the infuriated animals, even at the risk of being trampled to death himself; and certainly he must have had a most wonderful escape.
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