第214章

"I stumbled over some object; I stooped to examine -- it was the second pistol, which had not gone off, probably from the powder being wet.I approached the jeweller, who was not quite dead, and at the sound of my footsteps and the creaking of the floor, he opened his eyes, fixed them on me with an anxious and inquiring gaze, moved his lips as though trying to speak, then, overcome by the effort, fell back and expired.This appalling sight almost bereft me of my senses, and finding that I could no longer be of service to any one in the house, my only desire was to fly.I rushed towards the staircase, clutching my hair, and uttering a groan of horror.Upon reaching the room below, I found five or six custom-house officers, and two or three gendarmes -- all heavily armed.They threw themselves upon me.I made no resistance; I was no longer master of my senses.When Istrove to speak, a few inarticulate sounds alone escaped my lips.

"As I noticed the significant manner in which the whole party pointed to my blood-stained garments, I involuntarily surveyed myself, and then I discovered that the thick warm drops that had so bedewed me as I lay beneath the staircase must have been the blood of La Carconte.I pointed to the spot where I had concealed myself.`What does he mean?'

asked a gendarme.One of the officers went to the place Idirected.`He means,' replied the man upon his return, `that he got in that way;' and he showed the hole I had made when I broke through.

"Then I saw that they took me for the assassin.I recovered force and energy enough to free myself from the hands of those who held me, while I managed to stammer forth -- `Idid not do it! Indeed, indeed I did not!' A couple of gendarmes held the muzzles of their carbines against my breast.-- `Stir but a step,' said they, `and you are a dead man.' -- `Why should you threaten me with death,' cried I, `when I have already declared my innocence?' -- `Tush, tush,' cried the men; `keep your innocent stories to tell to the judge at Nimes.Meanwhile, come along with us; and the best advice we can give you is to do so unresistingly.'

Alas, resistance was far from my thoughts.I was utterly overpowered by surprise and terror; and without a word Isuffered myself to be handcuffed and tied to a horse's tail, and thus they took me to Nimes.

"I had been tracked by a customs-officer, who had lost sight of me near the tavern; feeling certain that I intended to pass the night there, he had returned to summon his comrades, who just arrived in time to hear the report of the pistol, and to take me in the midst of such circumstantial proofs of my guilt as rendered all hopes of proving my innocence utterly futile.One only chance was left me, that of beseeching the magistrate before whom I was taken to cause every inquiry to be made for the Abbe Busoni, who had stopped at the inn of the Pont du Gard on that morning.If Caderousse had invented the story relative to the diamond, and there existed no such person as the Abbe Busoni, then, indeed, I was lost past redemption, or, at least, my life hung upon the feeble chance of Caderousse himself being apprehended and confessing the whole truth.Two months passed away in hopeless expectation on my part, while I must do the magistrate the justice to say that he used every means to obtain information of the person I declared could exculpate me if he would.Caderousse still evaded all pursuit, and I had resigned myself to what seemed my inevitable fate.My trial was to come on at the approaching assizes; when, on the 8th of September -- that is to say, precisely three months and five days after the events which had perilled my life -- the Abbe Busoni, whom I never ventured to believe I should see, presented himself at the prison doors, saying he understood one of the prisoners wished to speak to him; he added, that having learned at Marseilles the particulars of my imprisonment, he hastened to comply with my desire.You may easily imagine with what eagerness I welcomed him, and how minutely I related the whole of what I had seen and heard.I felt some degree of nervousness as I entered upon the history of the diamond, but, to my inexpressible astonishment, he confirmed it in every particular, and to my equal surprise, he seemed to place entire belief in all I said.And then it was that, won by his mild charity, seeing that he was acquainted with all the habits and customs of my own country, and considering also that pardon for the only crime of which I was really guilty might come with a double power from lips so benevolent and kind, I besought him to receive my confession, under the seal of which I recounted the Auteuil affair in all its details, as well as every other transaction of my life.That which I had done by the impulse of my best feelings produced the same effect as though it had been the result of calculation.My voluntary confession of the assassination at Auteuil proved to him that I had not committed that of which I stood accused.When he quitted me, he bade me be of good courage, and to rely upon his doing all in his power to convince my judges of my innocence.

"I had speedy proofs that the excellent abbe was engaged in my behalf, for the rigors of my imprisonment were alleviated by many trifling though acceptable indulgences, and I was told that my trial was to be postponed to the assizes following those now being held.In the interim it pleased providence to cause the apprehension of Caderousse, who was discovered in some distant country, and brought back to France, where he made a full confession, refusing to make the fact of his wife's having suggested and arranged the murder any excuse for his own guilt.The wretched man was sentenced to the galleys for life, and I was immediately set at liberty.""And then it was, I presume," said Monte Cristo "that you came to me as the bearer of a letter from the Abbe Busoni?""It was, your excellency; the benevolent abbe took an evident interest in all that concerned me.