"Your views tally exactly with mine, and I may almost say, to my sorrow, you are in the right. The leader whose appearance you expect is already announced!"
"You joke—should I be such a good prophet? But what is the reason that the ministry knows nothing of his existence?"
"Oh, a ministry fares in this respect the same as the husband of a frivolous woman: all others know more of what concerns him most than he himself."
"You may be right. What is the name of the new Bedouin leader?"
"Mohammed ben Abdallah."
"This name is quite strange to me. Are you not, perhaps, mistaken?"
"No," replied Monte-Cristo, coolly, "I know what I am speaking about. The man whose name I mentioned has sworn to accept the bloody heirloom of Abd-el-Kader and before four weeks have elapsed the revolutionary flag will again wave throughout all parts of the desert."
"Well, I shall not doubt any further; but tell me, in what connection does the soon-expected rising of the Kabyles stand with the disappearance of Albert?"
"Who is able to tell, Monsieur Beauchamp? But now I come to the chief point of my visit. You have influence in Paris?"