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and signed โ€œSinbad the Sailor.โ€

โ€œUnknown you say, is the man who rendered you this serviceโ โ€”unknown to you?โ€

โ€œYes; we have never had the happiness of pressing his hand,โ€ continued Maximilian. โ€œWe have supplicated Heaven in vain to grant us this favor, but the whole affair has had a mysterious meaning that we cannot comprehendโ โ€”we have been guided by an invisible handโ โ€”a hand as powerful as that of an enchanter.โ€

โ€œOh,โ€ cried Julie, โ€œI have not lost all hope of some day kissing that hand, as I now kiss the purse which he has touched. Four years ago, Penelon was at Triesteโ โ€”Penelon, count, is the old sailor you saw in the garden, and who, from quartermaster, has become gardenerโ โ€”Penelon, when he was at Trieste, saw on the quay an Englishman, who was on the point of embarking on board a yacht, and he recognized him as the person who called on my father the fifth of June, 1829, and who wrote me this letter on the fifth of September. He felt convinced of his identity, but he did not venture to address him.โ€

โ€œAn Englishman,โ€ said Monte Cristo, who grew uneasy at the attention with which Julie looked at him. โ€œAn Englishman you say?โ€

โ€œYes,โ€ replied Maximilian, โ€œan Englishman, who represented himself as the confidential clerk of the house of Thomson & French, at Rome. It was this that made me start when you said the other day, at M. de Morcerfโ€™s, that Messrs. Thomson & French were your bankers. That happened, as I told you, in 1829. For Godโ€™s sake, tell me, did you know this Englishman?โ€

โ€œBut you tell me, also, that the house of Thomson & French have constantly denied having rendered you this service?โ€

โ€œYes.โ€

โ€œThen is it not probable that this Englishman may be someone who, grateful for a kindness your father had shown him, and which he himself had forgotten, has taken this method of requiting the obligation?โ€

โ€œEverything is possible in this affair, even a miracle.โ€

โ€œWhat was his name?โ€ asked Monte Cristo.

โ€œHe gave no other name,โ€ answered Julie, looking earnestly at the count, โ€œthan that at the end of his letterโ โ€”โ€˜Sinbad the Sailor.โ€™โ€Šโ€

โ€œWhich is evidently not his real name, but a fictitious one.โ€

Then, noticing that Julie was struck with the sound of his voice:

โ€œTell me,โ€ continued he, โ€œwas he not about my height, perhaps a little taller, with his chin imprisoned, as it were, in a high cravat; his coat closely buttoned up, and constantly taking out his pencil?โ€

โ€œOh, do you then know him?โ€ cried Julie, whose eyes sparkled with joy.

โ€œNo,โ€ returned Monte Cristo โ€œI only guessed. I knew a Lord Wilmore, who was constantly doing actions of this kind.โ€

โ€œWithout revealing himself?โ€

โ€œHe was an eccentric being, and did not believe in the existence of gratitude.โ€

โ€œOh, Heaven,โ€ exclaimed Julie, clasping her hands, โ€œin what did he believe, then?โ€

โ€œHe did not credit it at the period which I knew him,โ€ said Monte Cristo, touched to the heart by the accents of Julieโ€™s voice; โ€œbut, perhaps, since then he has had proofs that gratitude does exist.โ€

โ€œAnd do you know this gentleman, monsieur?โ€ inquired Emmanuel.

โ€œOh, if you do know him,โ€ cried Julie, โ€œcan you tell us where he isโ โ€”where we can find him? Maximilianโ โ€”Emmanuelโ โ€”if we do but discover him, he must believe in the gratitude of the heart!โ€

Monte Cristo felt tears start into his eyes, and he again walked hastily up and down the room.

โ€œIn the name of Heaven,โ€ said Maximilian, โ€œif you know anything of him, tell us what it is.โ€

โ€œAlas,โ€ cried Monte Cristo, striving to repress his emotion, โ€œif Lord Wilmore was your unknown benefactor, I fear you will never see him again. I parted from him two years ago at Palermo, and he was then on the point of setting out for the most remote regions; so that I fear he will never return.โ€

โ€œOh, monsieur, this is cruel of you,โ€ said Julie, much affected; and the young ladyโ€™s eyes swam with tears.

โ€œMadame,โ€ replied Monte Cristo gravely, and gazing earnestly on the two liquid pearls that trickled down Julieโ€™s cheeks, โ€œhad Lord Wilmore seen what I now see, he would become attached to life, for the tears you shed would reconcile him to mankindโ€; and he held out his hand to Julie, who gave him hers, carried away by the look and accent of the count.

โ€œBut,โ€ continued she, โ€œLord Wilmore had a family or friends, he must have known someone, can we notโ โ€”โ€

โ€œOh, it is useless to inquire,โ€ returned the count; โ€œperhaps, after all, he was not the man you seek for. He was my friend: he had no secrets from me, and if this had been so he would have confided in me.โ€

โ€œAnd he told you nothing?โ€

โ€œNot a word.โ€

โ€œNothing that would lead you to suppose?โ€

โ€œNothing.โ€

โ€œAnd yet you spoke of him at once.โ€

โ€œAh, in such a case one supposesโ โ€”โ€

โ€œSister, sister,โ€ said Maximilian, coming to the countโ€™s aid, โ€œmonsieur is quite right. Recollect what our excellent father so often told us, โ€˜It was no Englishman that thus saved us.โ€™โ€Šโ€

Monte Cristo started. โ€œWhat did your father tell you, M. Morrel?โ€ said he eagerly.

โ€œMy father thought that this action had been miraculously performedโ โ€”he believed that a benefactor had arisen from the grave to save us. Oh, it was a touching superstition, monsieur, and although I did not myself believe it, I would not for the world have destroyed my fatherโ€™s faith. How often did he muse over it and pronounce the name of a dear friendโ โ€”a friend lost to him forever; and on his deathbed, when the near approach of eternity seemed to have illumined his mind with supernatural light, this thought, which had until then been but a doubt, became a conviction, and his last words were, โ€˜Maximilian, it was Edmond Dantรจs!โ€™โ€Šโ€

At these words the countโ€™s paleness, which had for some time been increasing, became alarming; he could not speak; he looked at his watch like a man who has forgotten the hour, said a few hurried words to Madame Herbault, and pressing the hands of Emmanuel and Maximilianโ โ€”โ€œMadame,โ€ said he, โ€œI trust you will allow me to visit

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