er neck flashed a collar of brilliant diamonds of enormous
value, and on her tapering fingers were rings of emerald, ruby and
sapphire; on her head was a red fez, precisely similar to her husband's;
her countenance, a perfect revelation of angelic beauty, was wreathed
in sunny smiles that betokened thorough happiness and contentment.

The little girl, Zuleika, the daughter of Monte-Cristo, was her exact
image, a reproduction of her lovely mother in miniature, a promise of
rare delight for the future. The child's costume was also modeled after
Haydee's, but with modifications suited to her tender years. Zuleika was
of a gentle, loving disposition, but a vein of romance and poetry had
already developed itself in her notwithstanding her extreme youth. She
sighed for the unknown delights of the sea, and the wail of the surf
sounded to her like the most delicious of mysterious harmonies. Her
infant imagination peopled the watery realm with spirits of good and
evil always in contention, and the great ships, with their huge white
sails, that she saw in the distance from the sandy beach of the Island
of Salmis, were in her eyes the mighty birds of Arabian story.

The boy, Esperance, the son of Monte-Cristo, resembled his father both
in disposition and appearance; his youthful soul was full of noble
aspirations, while his daring and bravery filled even the hardy
fishermen of the coast with wonder and amazement. He was a very manly
and handsome child; quick, enthusiastic and energetic; his father's hope
and his mother's idol; though Haydee saw, with extreme uneasiness, that
the little lad was wise beyond his years, and was already devoted to
Monte-Cristo's somewhat visionary schemes, which he appeared to grasp in
all their complicated details. His attire was that of a Greek fisher
boy; his trousers, rolled up above his knees, displayed his naked legs
and bare feet; in one hand he held a rough sea cap that he had removed
from his head at the door of the library. Esperance loved, above all
other things, to be with the fishermen on the beach, and his joy knew no
bounds when he was permitted to accompany them on their fishing
expeditions to the waters beyond.

Haydee remained silently gazing at Monte-Cristo for a moment; then,
advancing into the middle of the room, she stood beside him with the
children. Zuleika, dropping her mother's hand, sprang lightly upon her
father's knees, and, clasping him about the neck with her chubby arms