第480章

"I understand," he said, "you confess; but a confession made to the judges, a confession made at the last moment, extorted when the crime cannot be denied, diminishes not the punishment inflicted on the guilty!""The punishment?" exclaimed Madame de Villefort, "the punishment, monsieur? Twice you have pronounced that word!""Certainly.Did you hope to escape it because you were four times guilty? Did you think the punishment would be withheld because you are the wife of him who pronounces it? -- No, madame, no; the scaffold awaits the poisoner, whoever she may be, unless, as I just said, the poisoner has taken the precaution of keeping for herself a few drops of her deadliest potion." Madame de Villefort uttered a wild cry, and a hideous and uncontrollable terror spread over her distorted features."Oh, do not fear the scaffold, madame,"said the magistrate; "I will not dishonor you, since that would be dishonor to myself; no, if you have heard me distinctly, you will understand that you are not to die on the scaffold.""No, I do not understand; what do you mean?" stammered the unhappy woman, completely overwhelmed."I mean that the wife of the first magistrate in the capital shall not, by her infamy, soil an unblemished name; that she shall not, with one blow, dishonor her husband and her child.""No, no -- oh, no!"

"Well, madame, it will be a laudable action on your part, and I will thank you for it!""You will thank me -- for what?"

"For what you have just said."

"What did I say? Oh, my brain whirls; I no longer understand anything.Oh, my God, my God!" And she rose, with her hair dishevelled, and her lips foaming.

"Have you answered the question I put to you on entering the room? -- where do you keep the poison you generally use, madame?" Madame de Villefort raised her arms to heaven, and convulsively struck one hand against the other."No, no,"she vociferated, "no, you cannot wish that!""What I do not wish, madame, is that you should perish on the scaffold.Do you understand?" asked Villefort.

"Oh, mercy, mercy, monsieur!"

"What I require is, that justice be done.I am on the earth to punish, madame," he added, with a flaming glance; "any other woman, were it the queen herself, I would send to the executioner; but to you I shall be merciful.To you I will say, `Have you not, madame, put aside some of the surest, deadliest, most speedy poison?'""Oh, pardon me, sir; let me live!"

"She is cowardly," said Villefort.

"Reflect that I am your wife!"

"You are a poisoner."

"In the name of heaven!"

"No!"

"In the name of the love you once bore me!""No, no!"

"In the name of our child! Ah, for the sake of our child, let me live!""No, no, no, I tell you; one day, if I allow you to live, you will perhaps kill him, as you have the others!""I? -- I kill my boy?" cried the distracted mother, rushing toward Villefort; "I kill my son? Ha, ha, ha!" and a frightful, demoniac laugh finished the sentence, which was lost in a hoarse rattle.Madame de Villefort fell at her husband's feet.He approached her."Think of it, madame," he said; "if, on my return, justice his not been satisfied, Iwill denounce you with my own mouth, and arrest you with my own hands!" She listened, panting, overwhelmed, crushed; her eye alone lived, and glared horribly."Do you understand me?" he said."I am going down there to pronounce the sentence of death against a murderer.If I find you alive on my return, you shall sleep to-night in the conciergerie."Madame de Villefort sighed; her nerves gave way, and she sunk on the carpet.The king's attorney seemed to experience a sensation of pity; he looked upon her less severely, and, bowing to her, said slowly, "Farewell, madame, farewell!"That farewell struck Madame de Villefort like the executioner's knife.She fainted.The procureur went out, after having double-locked the door.