A cannon-shot caused the house to shake to its foundations, and Haydee, pale and trembling, entered.
"The bombardment begins," she whispered to her husband. "Oh, the cruelty!"
Monte-Cristo threw his arm about his handsome wife, and giving the boy a wink, he consolingly said:
"Spero will be worthy of you and me. Come, Spero, say good-by and go."
Spero pressed a kiss on Haydee's lips, threw his arms about his father's neck and whispered in his ear:
"I will do my duty."
Turning to the marquis he put his hand in that of the old man and said:
"Let us go!"
A half-hour passed by. Monte-Cristo and Haydee were still busied with Aslitta, when a servant entered bearing a sealed letter on a silver salver.
"A courier who has come from France has just brought it," said the servant, in answer to a question of the count's.