"Am I to lose you both? If I only knew when you were going to return."
The count turned to Mercedes.
"Mercedes," he said to Albert's mother, "you see I do not shrink from any sacrifice when it is a question of duty. Love my Haydee and console her. She needs it."
"I swear it," replied Mercedes, solemnly; and, clasping Haydee in her arms, she added: "There is still time, Haydee; tell me, 'My husband and my child should stay here,' and I shall acquiesce in it."
"You hear her words, Haydee," said Monte-Cristo, casting an anxious look at Ali Tebelen's daughter. "What is your answer?"
Haydee's beautiful face was illuminated with a halo as she took Spero's arm and led him to his father.
"Be worthy of him," she whispered, with emotion.
Mercedes sank sobbing at the young wife's feet, and exclaimed:
"Now I shall get my son back again; I feel it."
The count finished all his preparations and chose the best weapons. He went with Spero to the dock the next morning, and was met by Jacopo, who looked like a different person.