"Oh!" said Villefort, inexpressibly delighted to think the inquiries were to be made tête-à-tête,—"oh, be satisfied, I can understand my father." While uttering these words with this expression of joy, his teeth clashed together violently.
D'Avrigny took the young man's arm, and led him out of the room. A more than deathlike silence then reigned in the house. At the end of a quarter of an hour a faltering footstep was heard, and Villefort appeared at the door of the apartment where d'Avrigny and Morrel had been staying, one absorbed in meditation, the other with grief.
"You can come," he said, and led them back to Noirtier.
Morrel looked attentively on Villefort. His face was livid, large drops rolled down his face; and in his fingers he held the fragments of a pen which he had torn to atoms.
"Gentlemen," he said, in a hoarse voice, "give me your word of honor that this horrible secret shall forever remain buried among ourselves!"
The two men drew back.
"I entreat you———" continued Villefort.
"But," said Morrel, "the culprit—the murderer—the assassin."
"Do not alarm yourself, sir, justice will be done," said Villefort. "My father has revealed the culprit's name; my father thirsts for revenge as much as you do, yet even he conjures you as I do to keep this secret. Do you not, father?"
"Yes," resolutely replied Noirtier. Morrel suffered an exclamation of horror and surprise to escape him.
"Oh, sir!" said Villefort, arresting Maximilian by the arm, "if my father, the inflexible man, makes this request, it is because he knows, be assured, that Valentine will be terribly avenged. Is it not so, father?"
The old man made a sign in the affirmative. Villefort continued:—
"He knows me, and I have pledged my word to him. Rest assured, gentlemen, that within three days, in a less time than justice would demand, the revenge I shall have taken for the murder of my child will be such as to make the boldest heart tremble. Is it not so, my father?" And as he spoke these words he ground his teeth, and grasped the old man's senseless hand.
"Will this promise be fulfilled, M. Noirtier?" asked Morrel, while d'Avrigny looked inquiringly.
"Yes," replied Noirtier, with an expression of sinister joy.
"Swear, then," said Villefort, joining the hands of Morrel and d'Avrigny, "swear that you will spare the honor of my house, and leave me to avenge my child."
D'Avrigny turned round and uttered a very feeble "Yes;" but Morrel, disengaging his hand, rushed to the bed, and, after having
