Fernand made no reply, nor did he attempt to check the tears which flowed down the cheeks of Mercédès, although for each of these tears he would have given a cupful of his heart's blood; but these tears flowed for another. He arose, paced awhile up and down the hut, and then, suddenly stopping before Mercédès, with his eyes stern and his hands clenched,
"Say, Mercédès," he said, "once for all, is this your final determination?"
"I love Edmond Dantès," the young girl calmly replied, "and none but Edmond shall ever be my husband."
"And you will always love him?"
"As long as I live."
Fernand let fall his head like a defeated man, heaved a sigh which resembled a groan, and then suddenly looking her full in the face, with clenched teeth and expanded nostrils, said:
"But if he is dead?———"
"If he is dead, I shall die too."
"If he has forgotten you?———"
"Mercédès!" cried a voice, joyously, outside the house, "Mercédès!"
"Ah!" exclaimed the young girl, blushing with delight, and springing up with love, "you see he has not forgotten me, for here he is!" And rushing toward the door, she opened it, saying,
"Here, Edmond, here I am!"
Fernand, pale and trembling, receded like a traveler at the sight of a serpent, and fell into a chair beside him.
Edmond and Mercédès were clasped in each other's arms. The burning sun of Marseilles, which penetrated the room by the open door, covered them with a flood of light. At first they saw nothing around them. Their intense happiness isolated them from all the rest of the world, and they only spoke in broken words, which are the tokens of a joy so extreme that they seem rather the expression of sorrow. Suddenly Edmond saw the gloomy countenance of Fernand, as it was defined in the shadow, pale and threatening, and by a movement, for which he could scarcely account to himself, the young Catalan placed his hand on the knife at his belt.
"Ah! your pardon," said Dantès, frowning in his turn; "I did not perceive that there were three of us." Then, turning to Mercédès, he inquired, "Who is this gentleman?"
"One who will be your best friend, Dantès, for he is my friend, my cousin, my brother; it is Fernand — the man whom, after you, Edmond, I love the best in the world. Do you not remember him?"
"Yes!" said Edmond, and without relinquishing Mercédès' hand
