Monte-Cristo looked tenderly at the young man.
"I thank God I found you," he said, extending his arms to the young man.
"And now," Albert said, "let me present you to my other rescuer."
Gratillet advanced and, bowing gracefully, said:
"Count, excuse me, please, if my clothes are not exactly fashionable, but we have had no time to make our toilet."
Albert and the journalist, instead of having fallen down a precipice, had fallen into a lake. When Monte-Cristo heard Gratillet's name, he uttered a cry of surprise.
"Monsieur Gratillet," he said, "are you not a friend of Beauchamp?"
"Yes, his friend and reporter."
"But where is Jacopo?" asked the count, looking about for the Corsican.