suddenly stood before him, with his arms folded upon his
breast. Monte-Cristo saw him distinctly, though unable to stir either
hand or foot. The singular visitant surveyed the Count long and
steadily. There was something vaguely familiar about him, but as to his
identity the sleeper could form no idea. At last he slowly removed the
mask, and recognition was instantaneous. The man was Danglars. He raised
his right hand, and, pointing with his forefinger at the Count, said
deliberately, with a hiss like some venomous serpent:

"Edmond Dantes, there is a bitter account open between us, and I am here
to force you to a bitter settlement!"

The light of the huge lamp, suspended from the ceiling, fell full upon
Danglars' countenance; it was as bloodless as that of a corpse, and the
eyes shone with a remorseless, vindictive glare. The banker continued in
the same hissing tone, his words penetrating to the very marrow of the
slumberer's bones:

"Count of Monte-Cristo, for by that name it still pleases you to be
called, listen to me. By the most ingenious and fiendish combinations
possible for a human being to contrive, you wrecked my fortune and with
it my hopes. You drove me ignominiously from Paris; in Rome you caused
me to be starved and robbed by Luigi Vampa and his brigands; then with
the malevolent magnanimity of an arch-demon you sent me forth into the
world a fugitive and an outcast. Count of Monte-Cristo, Edmond Dantes,
low-born sailor of Marseilles, modern Mephistopheles as you are, I will
be even with you! You have had your vengeance; now you shall feel mine!
Here in the Grecian Archipelago, on the Island of Salmis, I will torture
you through your dearest affections, and grind you to dust beneath my
heel!"

As Danglars finished, his features changed and became those of
Villefort, while his Greek peasant's garb was transformed into the
sombre habiliments of the Procureur du Roi. Villefort's face wore the
look of madness, but there was a freezing calmness in his voice as he
said:

"Edmond Dantes, Count of Monte-Cristo, gaze upon the ruin you have made.
Through you I was dragged down from my high position, exposed,
humiliated and deprived of reason. But although the mere wreck of my
former self, I am not utterly powerless, as you shall learn to your
cost. You raised up my infamous son, Benedetto, to be the instrument of
my destruction. Now, he shall work yours, and avenge his unhappy
father!"

The apparition paus