"Certainly; on my word of honor."
"You know the history of the Pasha of Yanina, do you not?"
"Of Ali Tepelini? [*] Oh, yes; it was in his service that my father made
his fortune."
"True, I had forgotten that."
* Ali Pasha, "The Lion," was born at Tepelini, an Albanian
village at the foot of the Klissoura Mountains, in 1741. By
diplomacy and success in arms he became almost supreme ruler
of Albania, Epirus, and adjacent territory. Having aroused
the enmity of the Sultan, he was proscribed and put to death
by treachery in 1822, at the age of eighty.--Ed.
"Well, what is Haidee to Ali Tepelini?"
"Merely his daughter."
"What? the daughter of Ali Pasha?"
"Of Ali Pasha and the beautiful Vasiliki."
"And your slave?"
"Ma foi, yes."
"But how did she become so?"
"Why, simply from the circumstance of my having bought her one day, as I
was passing through the market at Constantinople."
"Wonderful! Really, my dear count, you seem to throw a sort of magic
influence over all in which you are concerned; when I listen to you,
existence no longer seems reality, but a waking dream. Now, I am perhaps
going to make an imprudent and thoughtless request, but"--
"Say on."
"But, since you go out with Haidee, and sometimes even take her to the
opera"--
"Well?"
"I think I may venture to ask you this favor."
"You may venture to ask me anything."
"Well then, my dear count, present me to your princess."
"I will do so; but on two conditions."
"I accept them at once."
"The first is, that you will never tell any one that I have granted the
interview."
"Very well," said Albert, extending his hand; "I swear I will not."
"The second is, that you will not tell her that your father ever served
hers."
"I give you my oath that I will not."
"Enough, viscount; you will remember those two vows, will you not? But
I know you to be a man of honor." The count again struck the gong. Ali
reappeared. "Tell Haidee," said he, "that I will take coffee with her,
and give her to understand that I desire permission to present one of my
friends to her." Ali bowed and left the room. "Now, understand me," said
the count, "no direct questions, my dear Morcerf; if you wish to know
anything, tell me, and I will ask her."
"Agreed." Ali reappeared for the third time, and drew back the
tapestried hanging which concealed the door, to signify to his master
and Albert that they were at liberty to pass on. "Let us go in," said
Monte Cristo.
Albert passed his hand through his hair, and curled his mustache, then,
having satisfied himself as to his personal appearance, followed the
count into the room, the latter having previously resumed his hat and
gloves. Ali was stationed as a kind of advanced guard, and the door was
kept by the three French attendants, commanded by Myrtho. Haidee was
awaiting her visitors in the first room of her apartments, which was the
drawing-room. Her large eyes were dilated with surprise and expectation,
for it was the first time that any man, except Monte Cristo, had been
accorded an entrance into her presence. She was sitting on a sofa placed
in an angle of the room, with her legs crossed under her in the Eastern
fashion, and seemed to have made for herself, as it were, a kind of
nest in the rich Indian silks which enveloped her. Near her was
the instrument on which she had just been playing; it was elegantly
fashioned, and worthy of its mistress. On perceiving Monte Cristo, she
arose and welcomed him with a smile peculiar to herself, expressive at
once of the most implicit obedience and also of the deepest love. Monte
Cristo advanced towards her and extended his hand, which she as usual
raised to her lips.
Albert had proceeded no farther than the door, where he remained rooted
to the spot, being completely fascinated by the sight of such surpassing
beauty, beheld as it was for the first time, and of which an inhabitant
of more northern climes could form no adequate idea.
"Whom do you bring?" asked the young girl in Romaic, of Monte Cristo;
"is it a friend, a brother, a simple acquaintance, or an enemy."
"A friend," said Monte Cristo in the same language.
"What is his name?"
"Count Albert; it is the same man whom I rescued from the hands of the
banditti at Rome."
"In what language would you like me to converse with him?"
Monte Cristo turned to Albert. "Do you know modern Greek," asked he.
"Alas, no," said Albert; "nor even ancient Greek, my dear count; never
had Homer or Plato a more unworthy scholar than myself."
"Then," said Haidee, proving by her remark that she had quite understood
Monte Cristo's question and Albert's answer, "then I will speak either
in French or Italian, if my lord so wills it."
Monte Cristo reflected one instant. "You will speak in Italian," said
he. Then, turning towards Albert,--"It is a pity you do not understand
either ancient or modern Greek, both of which Haidee speaks so fluently;
the poor child will be obliged to talk to you in Italian, which will
give you but a very false idea of her powers of conversation." The
count made a sign to Haidee to address his visitor. "Sir," she said to
Morcerf, "you are most welcome as the friend of my lord and master."
This was said in excellent Tuscan, and with that soft Roman accent which
makes the language of Dante as sonorous as that of Homer. Then, turning
to Ali, she directed him to bring coffee and pipes, and when he had left
the room to execute the orders of his young mistress she beckoned Albert
to approach nearer to her. Monte Cristo and Morcerf drew their seats
towards a small table, on which were arranged music, drawings, and vases
of flowers. Ali then entered bringing coffee and chibouques; as to M.
Baptistin, this portion of the building was interdicted to him. Albert
refused the pipe which the Nubian offered him. "Oh, take it--take it,"
said the count; "Haidee is almost as civilized as a Parisian; the smell
of an Havana is disagreeable to her, but the tobacco of the East is a
most delicious perfume, you know."
Ali left the room. The cups of coffee were all prepared, with the
addition of sugar, which had been brought for Albert. Monte Cristo and
Haidee took the beverage in the original Arabian manner, that is to
say, without sugar. Haidee took the porcelain cup in her little slender
fingers and conveyed it to her mouth with all the innocent artlessness
of a child when eating or drinking something which it likes. At this
moment two women entered, bringing salvers filled with ices and sherbet,
which they placed on two small tables appropriated to that purpose.
"My dear host, and you, signora," said Albert, in Italian, "excuse my
apparent stupidity. I am quite bewildered, and it is natural that it
should be so. Here I am in the heart of Paris; but a moment ago I heard
the rumbling of the omnibuses and the tinkling of the bells of the
lemonade-sellers, and now I feel as if I were suddenly transported to
the East; not such as I have seen it, but such as my dreams have painted
it. Oh, signora, if I could but speak Greek, your conversation, added
to the fairy-scene which surrounds me, would furnish an evening of such
delight as it would be impossible for me ever to forget."
"I speak sufficient Italian to enable me to converse with you, sir,"
said Haidee quietly; "and if you like what is Eastern, I will do my best
to secure the gratification of your tastes while you are here."
"On what subject shall I converse with her?" said Albert, in a low tone
to Monte Cristo.
"Just what you please; you may speak of her country and of her youthful
reminiscences, or if you like it better you can talk of Rome, Naples, or
Florence."
"Oh," said Albert, "it is of no use to be in the company of a Greek if
one converses just in the same style as with a Parisian; let me speak to
her of the East."
"Do so then, for of all themes which you could choose that will be the
most agreeable to her taste." Albert turned towards Haidee. "At what age
did you leave Greece, signora?" asked he.
"I left it when I was but five years old," replied Haidee.
"And have you any recollection of your country?"
"When I shut my eyes and think, I seem to see it all again. The mind can
see as well as the body. The body forgets sometimes--but the mind never
forgets."
"And how far back into the past do your recollections extend?"
"I could scarcely walk when my mother, who was called Vasiliki, which
means royal," said the young girl, tossing her head proudly, "took me by
the hand, and after putting in our purse all the money we possessed, we
went out, both covered with veils, to solicit alms for the prisoners,
saying, 'He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord.' Then when our
purse was full we returned to the palace, and without saying a word to
my father, we sent it to the convent, where it was divided amongst the
prisoners."
"And how old were you at that time?"
"I was three years old," said Haidee.
"Then you remember everything that went on about you from the time when
you were three years old?" said Albert.
"Everything."
"Count," said Albert, in a low tone to Monte Cristo, "do allow
the signora to tell me something of her history. You prohibited my
mentioning my father's name to her, but perhaps she will allude to him
of her own accord in the course of the recital, and you have no idea
how delighted I should be to hear our name pronounced by such beautiful
lips." Monte Cristo turned to Haidee, and with an expression of
countenance which commanded her to pay the most implicit attention to
his words, he said in Greek,--"Tell us the fate of your father; but
neither the name of the traitor nor the treason." Haidee sighed deeply,
and a shade of sadness clouded her beautiful brow.
"What are you saying to her?" said Morcerf in an undertone.
"I again reminded her that you were a friend, and that she need not
conceal anything from you."
"Then," said Albert, "this pious pilgrimage in behalf of the prisoners
was your first remembrance; what is the next?"
"Oh, then I remember as if it were but yesterday sitting under the shade
of some sycamore-trees, on the borders of a lake, in the waters of which
the trembling foliage was reflected as in a mirror. Under the oldest and
thickest of these trees, reclining on cushions, sat my father; my mother
was at his feet, and I, childlike, amused myself by playing with his
long white beard which descended to his girdle, or with the diamond-hilt
of the scimitar attached to his girdle. Then from time to time there
came to him an Albanian who said something to which I paid no attention,
but which he always answered in the same tone of voice, either 'Kill,'
or 'Pardon.'"
"It is very strange," said Albert, "to hear such words proceed from the
mouth of any one but an actress on the stage, and one needs constantly
to be saying to one's self, 'This is no fiction, it is all reality,' in
order to believe it. And how does France appear in your eyes, accustomed
as they have been to gaze on such enchanted scenes?"
"I think it is a fine country," said Haidee, "but I see France as it
really is, because I look on it with the eyes of a woman; whereas my own
country, which I can only judge of from the impression produced on my
childish mind, always seems enveloped in a vague atmosphere, which is
luminous or otherwise, according as my remembrances of it are sad or
joyous."
"So young," said Albert, forgetting at the moment the Count's command
that he should ask no questions of the slave herself, "is it possible
that you can have known what suffering is except by name?"
Haidee turned her eyes towards Monte Cristo, who, making at the same
time some imperceptible sign, murmured,--"Go on."
"Nothing is ever so firmly impressed on the mind as the memory of our
early childhood, and with the exception of the two scenes I have just
described to you, all my earliest reminiscences are fraught with deepest
sadness."
"Speak, speak, signora," said Albert, "I am listening with the most
intense delight and interest to all you say."
Haidee answered his remark with a melancholy smile. "You wish me, then,
to relate the history of my past sorrows?" said she.
"I beg you to do so," replied Albert.
"Well, I was but four years old when one night I was suddenly awakened
by my mother. We were in the palace of Yanina; she snatched me from
the cushions on which I was sleeping, and on opening my eyes I saw hers
filled with tears. She took me away without speaking. When I saw her
weeping I began to cry too. 'Hush, child!' said she. At other times in
spite of maternal endearments or threats, I had with a child's caprice
been accustomed to indulge my feelings of sorrow or anger by crying as
much as I felt inclined; but on this occasion there was an intonation
of such extreme terror in my mother's voice when she enjoined me to
silence, that I ceased crying as soon as her command was given. She bore
me rapidly away.
"I saw then that we were descending a large staircase; around us were
all my mother's servants carrying trunks, bags, ornaments, jewels,
purses of gold, with which they were hurrying away in the greatest
