onceal.

"Well, now, my dear Gerard," said he to the young man, with a very
significant look, "do you know, you seem as if you were not very glad to
see me?"

"My dear father," said Villefort, "I am, on the contrary, delighted; but
I so little expected your visit, that it has somewhat overcome me."

"But, my dear fellow," replied M. Noirtier, seating himself, "I might
say the same thing to you, when you announce to me your wedding for the
28th of February, and on the 3rd of March you turn up here in Paris."

"And if I have come, my dear father," said Gerard, drawing closer to
M. Noirtier, "do not complain, for it is for you that I came, and my
journey will be your salvation."

"Ah, indeed!" said M. Noirtier, stretching himself out at his ease
in the chair. "Really, pray tell me all about it, for it must be
interesting."

"Father, you have heard speak of a certain Bonapartist club in the Rue
Saint-Jacques?"

"No. 53; yes, I am vice-president."

"Father, your coolness makes me shudder."

"Why, my dear boy, when a man has been proscribed by the mountaineers,
has escaped from Paris in a hay-cart, been hunted over the plains of
Bordeaux by Robespierre's bloodhounds, he becomes accustomed to most
things. But go on, what about the club in the Rue Saint-Jacques?"

"Why, they induced General Quesnel to go there, and General Quesnel, who
quitted his own house at nine o'clock in the evening, was found the next
day in the Seine."

"And who told you this fine story?"

"The king himself."

"Well, then, in return for your story," continued Noirtier, "I will tell
you another."

"My dear father, I think I already know what you are about to tell me."

"Ah, you have heard of the landing of the emperor?"

"Not so loud, father, I entreat of you--for your own sake as well as
mine. Yes, I heard this news, and knew it even before you could; for
three days ago I posted from Marseilles to Paris with all possible
speed, half-desperate at the enforced delay."

"Three days ago? You are crazy. Why, three days ago the emperor had not
landed."

"No matter, I was aware of his intention."

"How did you know about it?"

"By a letter addressed to you from the Island of Elba."

"To me?"

"To you; and which I discovered in the pocket-book of the messenger. Had
that letter fallen into the hands of another, you, my dear father, would
probably ere this have been shot." Villefort's father laughed.

"Come, come," said he, "will the