第479章

"Dear me!" said the young woman, endeavoring to read her husband's inmost thoughts, while a smile passed over her countenance which froze the impassibility of Villefort;"what is the matter?"

"Madame, where do you keep the poison you generally use?"said the magistrate, without any introduction, placing himself between his wife and the door.

Madame de Villefort must have experienced something of the sensation of a bird which, looking up, sees the murderous trap closing over its head.A hoarse, broken tone, which was neither a cry nor a sigh, escaped from her, while she became deadly pale."Monsieur," she said, "I -- I do not understand you." And, in her first paroxysm of terror, she had raised herself from the sofa, in the next, stronger very likely than the other, she fell down again on the cushions."Iasked you," continued Villefort, in a perfectly calm tone, "where you conceal the poison by the aid of which you have killed my father-in-law, M.de Saint-Meran, my mother-in-law, Madame de Saint-Meran, Barrois, and my daughter Valentine.""Ah, sir," exclaimed Madame de Villefort, clasping her hands, "what do you say?""It is not for you to interrogate, but to answer.""Is it to the judge or to the husband?" stammered Madame de Villefort."To the judge -- to the judge, madame!" It was terrible to behold the frightful pallor of that woman, the anguish of her look, the trembling of her whole frame."Ah, sir," she muttered, "ah, sir," and this was all.

"You do not answer, madame!" exclaimed the terrible interrogator.Then he added, with a smile yet more terrible than his anger, "It is true, then; you do not deny it!" She moved forward."And you cannot deny it!" added Villefort, extending his hand toward her, as though to seize her in the name of justice."You have accomplished these different crimes with impudent address, but which could only deceive those whose affections for you blinded them.Since the death of Madame de Saint-Meran, I have known that a poisoner lived in my house.M.d'Avrigny warned me of it.After the death of Barrois my suspicions were directed towards an angel, --those suspicions which, even when there is no crime, are always alive in my heart; but after the death of Valentine, there has been no doubt in my mind, madame, and not only in mine, but in those of others; thus your crime, known by two persons, suspected by many, will soon become public, and, as I told you just now, you no longer speak to the husband, but to the judge."The young woman hid her face in her hands."Oh, sir," she stammered, "I beseech you, do not believe appearances.""Are you, then, a coward?" cried Villefort, in a contemptuous voice."But I have always observed that poisoners were cowards.Can you be a coward, -- you who have had the courage to witness the death of two old men and a young girl murdered by you?""Sir! sir!"

"Can you be a coward?" continued Villefort, with increasing excitement, "you, who could count, one by one, the minutes of four death agonies? You, who have arranged your infernal plans, and removed the beverages with a talent and precision almost miraculous? Have you, then, who have calculated everything with such nicety, have you forgotten to calculate one thing -- I mean where the revelation of your crimes will lead you to? Oh, it is impossible -- you must have saved some surer, more subtle and deadly poison than any other, that you might escape the punishment that you deserve.You have done this -- I hope so, at least." Madame de Villefort stretched out her hands, and fell on her knees.