isto, he saw
the carriage drive out of the court-yard.

A strange phenomenon now took place. Sanselme drew a long breath and
began to run after the carriage--he felt no more lassitude nor weakness.
His entire vital strength was concentrated in his superhuman effort. And
this man who just now could not hold himself erect, ran on swiftly
without hesitation. With his eyes on the carriage lamps he followed them
unerringly. Somnambulists and madmen alone do such things. And Sanselme
ran as if he were in a dream. He saw the carriage stop at last, and he
heard violent blows upon a door. And then he entered as well as the
others, and appeared on the scene just as Benedetto leaped from the
window.

Sanselme beheld Jane, and in that moment of agony his broken, bleeding
heart loosed its grasp upon his secret, for he cried out:

"Jane! my daughter! My beloved daughter!"

Fanfar instantly understood the truth and laid his hand compassionately
on his shoulder.

"Courage!" he said, gently.

But Sanselme shook off the hand, and before any one knew what he meant
to do, he climbed upon the window, crying:

"Benedetto! You shall not escape!"

And he, too, leaped into the water. Benedetto was scarce a minute in
advance.

Benedetto had made a mistake. He knew of a secret egress from this
house, but he forgot it, so great was his fear.

Fear? Yes. For the first time in his life he had made an attack on
Monte-Cristo, and in spite of his audacity, knew perfectly well that
the mere presence of the Count would cause him to tremble with fear. He
did not wish to die, and therefore fled by the first path that presented
itself. And after all, to swim the Seine was a trifle to the former
_forcat_. He was strong and a good swimmer, but the height from which he
sprang was so great that at first he was almost stunned. The water was
icy cold. He first thought of climbing again to the same shore, but his
adversaries might be watching and he might fall into their hands; while
on the other bank the forest of Neuilly offered him a sure refuge. He
therefore swam across. The current was strong, but he and Sanselme had
known a worse and heavier sea when they escaped from Toulon. It was
strange, the persistency with which this name returned to him. At this
same moment he heard a dull noise behind him as if some one leaped into
the water. Could it be that one of his enemies had started in pursuit?
He found that he was making little progress and that