“My dear mother,” said he, “do you know if M. de Morcerf has any enemy?”
Mercédès started; she noticed that the young man did not say “my father.”
“My son,” she said, “persons in the count’s situation have many secret enemies. Those who are known are not the most dangerous.”
“I know it, and appeal to your penetration. You are of so superior a mind, nothing escapes you.”
“Why do you say so?”
“Because, for instance, you noticed on the evening of the ball we gave, that M. de Monte Cristo would eat nothing in our house.”
Mercédès raised herself on her feverish arm.
“M. de Monte Cristo!” she exclaimed; “and how is he connected with the question you asked me?”
“You know, mother, M. de Monte Cristo is almost an Oriental, and it is customary with the Orientals to secure full liberty for revenge by not eating or drinking in the houses of their enemies.”