to protect him -- it is equally your duty; I come,
therefore, to ask what has become of him?"

Villefort by a strong effort sought to control himself.
"What is his name?" said he. "Tell me his name."

"Edmond Dantes."

Villefort would probably have rather stood opposite the
muzzle of a pistol at five-and-twenty paces than have heard
this name spoken; but he did not blanch.

"Dantes," repeated he, "Edmond Dantes."

"Yes, monsieur." Villefort opened a large register, then
went to a table, from the table turned to his registers, and
then, turning to Morrel, --

"Are you quite sure you are not mistaken, monsieur?" said
he, in the most natural tone in the world.

Had Morrel been a more quick-sighted man, or better versed
in these matters, he would have been surprised at the king's
procureur answering him on such a subject, instead of
referring him to the governors of the prison or the prefect
of the department. But Morrel, disappointed in his
expectations of exciting fear, was conscious only of the
other's condescension. Villefort had calculated rightly.

"No," said Morrel; "I am not mistaken. I have known him for
ten years, the last four of which he was in my service. Do
not you recollect, I came about six weeks ago to plead for
clemency, as I come to-day to plead for justice. You
received me very coldly. Oh, the royalists were very severe
with the Bonapartists in those days."

"Monsieur," returned Villefort, "I was then a royalist,
because I believed the Bourbons not only the heirs to the
throne, but the chosen of the nation. The miraculous return
of Napoleon has conquered me, the legitimate monarch is he
who is loved by his people."

"That's right!" cried Morrel. "I like to hear you speak
thus, and I augur well for Edmond from it."

"Wait a moment," said Villefort, turning over the leaves of
a register; "I have it -- a sailor, who was about to marry a
young Catalan girl. I recollect now; it was a very serious
charge."

"How so?"

"You know that when he left here he was taken to the Palais
de Justice."

"Well?"

"I made my report to the authorities at Paris, and a week
after he was carried off."

"Carried off!" said Morrel. "What can they have done with
him?"

"Oh, he has been taken to Fenestrelles, to Pignerol, or to
the Sainte-Marguerite islands. Some fine morning he will
return to take command of your vessel."

"Come when he will, it shall be kept for him. But how is it
he is not already returned? It seems to me the first care of
government should be to set at liberty those who have
suffered for their adherence to it."

"Do not be too hasty, M. Morrel," replied Villefort. "The
order of imprisonment came from high authority, and the
order for his liberation must proceed from the same source;
and, as Napoleon has scarcely been reinstated a fortnight,
the letters have not yet been forwarded."

"But," said Morrel, "is there no way of expediting all these
formalities -- of releasing him from arrest?"

"There has been no arrest."

"How?"

"It is sometimes essential to government to cause a man's
disappearance without leaving any traces, so that no written
forms or documents may defeat their wishes."

"It might be so under the Bourbons, but at present" --

"It has always been so, my dear Morrel, since the reign of
Louis XIV. The emperor is more strict in prison discipline
than even Louis himself, and the number of prisoners whose
names are not on the register is incalculable." Had Morrel
even any suspicions, so much kindness would have dispelled
them.

"Well, M. de Villefort, how would you advise me to act?"
asked he.


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