given his father this proof of esteem at a moment when his honor was so
powerfully attacked. "At this moment one of the door-keepers brought
in a letter for the president. 'You are at liberty to speak, M. de
Morcerf,' said the president, as he unsealed the letter; and the count
began his defence, I assure you, Albert, in a most eloquent and skilful
manner. He produced documents proving that the Vizier of Yanina had up
to the last moment honored him with his entire confidence, since he had
interested him with a negotiation of life and death with the emperor. He
produced the ring, his mark of authority, with which Ali Pasha generally
sealed his letters, and which the latter had given him, that he might,
on his return at any hour of the day or night, gain access to the
presence, even in the harem. Unfortunately, the negotiation failed, and
when he returned to defend his benefactor, he was dead. 'But,' said the
count, 'so great was Ali Pasha's confidence, that on his death-bed he
resigned his favorite mistress and her daughter to my care.'" Albert
started on hearing these words; the history of Haidee recurred to him,
and he remembered what she had said of that message and the ring, and
the manner in which she had been sold and made a slave. "And what effect
did this discourse produce?" anxiously inquired Albert. "I acknowledge
it affected me, and, indeed, all the committee also," said Beauchamp.
"Meanwhile, the president carelessly opened the letter which had been
brought to him; but the first lines aroused his attention; he read them
again and again, and fixing his eyes on M. de Morcerf, 'Count,' said he,
'you have said that the Vizier of Yanina confided his wife and daughter
to your care?'--'Yes, sir,' replied Morcerf; 'but in that, like all the
rest, misfortune pursued me. On my return, Vasiliki and her daughter
Haidee had disappeared.'--'Did you know them?'--'My intimacy with the
pasha and his unlimited confidence had gained me an introduction to
them, and I had seen them above twenty times.'
"'Have you any idea what became of them?'--'Yes, sir; I heard they had
fallen victims to their sorrow, and, perhaps, to their poverty. I was
not rich; my life was in constant danger; I could not seek them, to my
great regret.' The president frowned imperceptibly. 'Gentlemen,' said
he, 'you have heard the Comte de Morcerf's defence. Can you, sir,
produce any witnesses to the truth of what you have asserted?'--'Alas,
no, monsieur,' replied the count; 'all those who surrounded the vizier,
or who knew me at his court, are either dead or gone away, I know not
where. I believe that I alone, of all my countrymen, survived that
dreadful war. I have only the letters of Ali Tepelini, which I have
placed before you; the ring, a token of his good-will, which is here;
and, lastly, the most convincing proof I can offer, after an anonymous
attack, and that is the absence of any witness against my veracity and
the purity of my military life.' A murmur of approbation ran through the
assembly; and at this moment, Albert, had nothing more transpired, your
father's cause had been gained. It only remained to put it to the vote,
when the president resumed: 'Gentlemen and you, monsieur,--you will
not be displeased, I presume, to listen to one who calls himself a very
important witness, and who has just presented himself. He is, doubtless,
come to prove the perfect innocence of our colleague. Here is a letter
I have just received on the subject; shall it be read, or shall it
be passed over? and shall we take no notice of this incident?' M. de
Morcerf turned pale, and clinched his hands on the papers he held.
The committee decided to hear the letter; the count was thoughtful and
silent. The president read:--
"'Mr. President,--I can furnish the committee of inquiry into the
conduct of the Lieutenant-General the Count of Morcerf in Epirus and in
Macedonia with important particulars.'
"The president paused, and the count turned pale. The president looked
at his auditors. 'Proceed,' was heard on all sides. The president
resumed:--
"'I was on the spot at the death of Ali Pasha. I was present during his
last moments. I know what is become of Vasiliki and Haidee. I am at the
command of the committee, and even claim the honor of being heard. I
shall be in the lobby when this note is delivered to you.'
"'And who is this witness, or rather this enemy?' asked the count, in
a tone in which there was a visible alteration. 'We shall know,
sir,' replied the president. 'Is the committee willing to hear this
witness?'--'Yes, yes,' they all said at once. The door-keeper was
called. 'Is there any one in the lobby?' said the president.
"'Yes, sir.'--'Who is it?'--'A woman, accompanied by a servant.' Every
one looked at his neighbor. 'Bring her in,' said the president. Five
minutes after the door-keeper again appeared; all eyes were fixed on
the door, and I," said Beauchamp, "shared the general expectation and
anxiety. Behind the door-keeper walked a woman enveloped in a large
veil, which completely concealed her. It was evident, from her figure
and the perfumes she had about her, that she was young and fastidious in
her tastes, but that was all. The president requested her to throw
aside her veil, and it was then seen that she was dressed in the Grecian
costume, and was remarkably beautiful."
"Ah," said Albert, "it was she."
"Who?"
"Haidee."
"Who told you that?"
"Alas, I guess it. But go on, Beauchamp. You see I am calm and strong.
And yet we must be drawing near the disclosure."
"M. de Morcerf," continued Beauchamp, "looked at this woman with
surprise and terror. Her lips were about to pass his sentence of life or
death. To the committee the adventure was so extraordinary and curious,
that the interest they had felt for the count's safety became now quite
a secondary matter. The president himself advanced to place a seat for
the young lady; but she declined availing herself of it. As for the
count, he had fallen on his chair; it was evident that his legs refused
to support him.
"'Madame,' said the president, 'you have engaged to furnish the
committee with some important particulars respecting the affair
at Yanina, and you have stated that you were an eyewitness of the
event.'--'I was, indeed,' said the stranger, with a tone of sweet
melancholy, and with the sonorous voice peculiar to the East.
"'But allow me to say that you must have been very young then.'--'I was
four years old; but as those events deeply concerned me, not a single
detail has escaped my memory.'--'In what manner could these events
concern you? and who are you, that they should have made so deep an
impression on you?'--'On them depended my father's life,' replied she.
'I am Haidee, the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of
Vasiliki, his beloved wife.'
"The blush of mingled pride and modesty which suddenly suffused the
cheeks of the young woman, the brilliancy of her eye, and her highly
important communication, produced an indescribable effect on the
assembly. As for the count, he could not have been more overwhelmed if
a thunderbolt had fallen at his feet and opened an immense gulf before
him. 'Madame,' replied the president, bowing with profound respect,
'allow me to ask one question; it shall be the last: Can you prove the
authenticity of what you have now stated?'--'I can, sir,' said Haidee,
drawing from under her veil a satin satchel highly perfumed; 'for here
is the register of my birth, signed by my father and his principal
officers, and that of my baptism, my father having consented to my being
brought up in my mother's faith,--this latter has been sealed by the
grand primate of Macedonia and Epirus; and lastly (and perhaps the most
important), the record of the sale of my person and that of my mother
to the Armenian merchant El-Kobbir, by the French officer, who, in his
infamous bargain with the Porte, had reserved as his part of the booty
the wife and daughter of his benefactor, whom he sold for the sum of
four hundred thousand francs.' A greenish pallor spread over the count's
cheeks, and his eyes became bloodshot at these terrible imputations,
which were listened to by the assembly with ominous silence.
"Haidee, still calm, but with a calmness more dreadful than the anger of
another would have been, handed to the president the record of her sale,
written in Arabic. It had been supposed some of the papers might be in
the Arabian, Romaic, or Turkish language, and the interpreter of the
House was in attendance. One of the noble peers, who was familiar
with the Arabic language, having studied it during the famous Egyptian
campaign, followed with his eye as the translator read aloud:--
"'I, El-Kobbir, a slave-merchant, and purveyor of the harem of his
highness, acknowledge having received for transmission to the sublime
emperor, from the French lord, the Count of Monte Cristo, an emerald
valued at eight hundred thousand francs; as the ransom of a young
Christian slave of eleven years of age, named Haidee, the acknowledged
daughter of the late lord Ali Tepelini, pasha of Yanina, and of
Vasiliki, his favorite; she having been sold to me seven years
previously, with her mother, who had died on arriving at Constantinople,
by a French colonel in the service of the Vizier Ali Tepelini, named
Fernand Mondego. The above-mentioned purchase was made on his highness's
account, whose mandate I had, for the sum of four hundred thousand
francs.
"'Given at Constantinople, by authority of his highness, in the year
1247 of the Hegira.
"'Signed El-Kobbir.'
"'That this record should have all due authority, it shall bear the
imperial seal, which the vendor is bound to have affixed to it.'
"Near the merchant's signature there was, indeed, the seal of the
sublime emperor. A dreadful silence followed the reading of this
document; the count could only stare, and his gaze, fixed as if
unconsciously on Haidee, seemed one of fire and blood. 'Madame,' said
the president, 'may reference be made to the Count of Monte Cristo,
who is now, I believe, in Paris?'--'Sir,' replied Haidee, 'the Count
of Monte Cristo, my foster-father, has been in Normandy the last three
days.'
"'Who, then, has counselled you to take this step, one for which
the court is deeply indebted to you, and which is perfectly natural,
considering your birth and your misfortunes?'--'Sir,' replied Haidee,
'I have been led to take this step from a feeling of respect and grief.
Although a Christian, may God forgive me, I have always sought to
revenge my illustrious father. Since I set my foot in France, and knew
the traitor lived in Paris, I have watched carefully. I live retired
in the house of my noble protector, but I do it from choice. I love
retirement and silence, because I can live with my thoughts and
recollections of past days. But the Count of Monte Cristo surrounds me
with every paternal care, and I am ignorant of nothing which passes in
the world. I learn all in the silence of my apartments,--for instance, I
see all the newspapers, every periodical, as well as every new piece of
music; and by thus watching the course of the life of others, I learned
what had transpired this morning in the House of Peers, and what was to
take place this evening; then I wrote.'
"'Then,' remarked the president, 'the Count of Monte Cristo knows
nothing of your present proceedings?'--'He is quite unaware of them, and
I have but one fear, which is that he should disapprove of what I
have done. But it is a glorious day for me,' continued the young girl,
raising her ardent gaze to heaven, 'that on which I find at last an
opportunity of avenging my father!'
"The count had not uttered one word the whole of this time. His
colleagues looked at him, and doubtless pitied his prospects, blighted
under the perfumed breath of a woman. His misery was depicted in
sinister lines on his countenance. 'M. de Morcerf,' said the president,
'do you recognize this lady as the daughter of Ali Tepelini, pasha of
Yanina?'--'No,' said Morcerf, attempting to rise, 'it is a base plot,
contrived by my enemies.' Haidee, whose eyes had been fixed on the
door, as if expecting some one, turned hastily, and, seeing the count
standing, shrieked, 'You do not know me?' said she. 'Well, I fortunately
recognize you! You are Fernand Mondego, the French officer who led
the troops of my noble father! It is you who surrendered the castle of
Yanina! It is you who, sent by him to Constantinople, to treat with the
emperor for the life or death of your benefactor, brought back a false
mandate granting full pardon! It is you who, with that mandate, obtained
the pasha's ring, which gave you authority over Selim, the fire-keeper!
It is you who stabbed Selim. It is you who sold us, my mother and me, to
the merchant, El-Kobbir! Assassin, assassin, assassin, you have still on
your brow your master's blood! Look, gentlemen, all!'
"These words had been pronounced with such enthusiasm and evident truth,
that every eye was fixed on the count's forehead, and he himself passed
his hand across it, as if he felt Ali's blood still lingering there.
'You positively recognize M. de Morcerf as the officer, Fernand
Mondego?'--'Indeed I do!' cried Haidee. 'Oh, my mother, it was you who
said, "You were free, you had a beloved father, you were destined to be
