ernand?" he said.

"Yes," was the reply, in a low voice. "It is Edmond and Mercedes!"

"Ah, see there, now!" said Caderousse; "and I did not recognize them!
Hallo, Dantes! hello, lovely damsel! Come this way, and let us know when
the wedding is to be, for Fernand here is so obstinate he will not tell
us."

"Hold your tongue, will you?" said Danglars, pretending to restrain
Caderousse, who, with the tenacity of drunkards, leaned out of the
arbor. "Try to stand upright, and let the lovers make love without
interruption. See, look at Fernand, and follow his example; he is
well-behaved!"

Fernand, probably excited beyond bearing, pricked by Danglars, as the
bull is by the bandilleros, was about to rush out; for he had risen from
his seat, and seemed to be collecting himself to dash headlong upon his
rival, when Mercedes, smiling and graceful, lifted up her lovely head,
and looked at them with her clear and bright eyes. At this Fernand
recollected her threat of dying if Edmond died, and dropped again
heavily on his seat. Danglars looked at the two men, one after the
other, the one brutalized by liquor, the other overwhelmed with love.

"I shall get nothing from these fools," he muttered; "and I am very much
afraid of being here between a drunkard and a coward. Here's an envious
fellow making himself boozy on wine when he ought to be nursing his
wrath, and here is a fool who sees the woman he loves stolen from under
his nose and takes on like a big baby. Yet this Catalan has eyes that
glisten like those of the vengeful Spaniards, Sicilians, and Calabrians,
and the other has fists big enough to crush an ox at one blow.
Unquestionably, Edmond's star is in the ascendant, and he will marry the
splendid girl--he will be captain, too, and laugh at us all, unless"--a
sinister smile passed over Danglars' lips--"unless I take a hand in the
affair," he added.

"Hallo!" continued Caderousse, half-rising, and with his fist on the
table, "hallo, Edmond! do you not see your friends, or are you too proud
to speak to them?"

"No, my dear fellow!" replied Dantes, "I am not proud, but I am happy,
and happiness blinds, I think, more than pride."

"Ah, very well, that's an explanation!" said Caderousse. "How do you do,
Madame Dantes?"

Mercedes courtesied gravely, and said--"That is not my name, and in my
country it bodes ill fortune, they say, to call a young girl by the name
of her betrothed before he becomes her husband. So call me