"Yes," said Danglars.
"In order that his wounds might be examined he was undressed, and his clothes were thrown into a corner, where the police picked them up, with the exception of the waistcoat, which they overlooked."
Andrea turned pale, and drew towards the door; he saw a cloud rising in the horizon, which appeared to forebode a coming storm.
"Well, this waistcoat was discovered to-day, covered with blood, and with a hole over the heart."
The ladies screamed, and two or three prepared to faint.
"It was brought to me.
No one could guess what the dirty rag could be; I alone suspected that it was the waistcoat of the murdered man.
My valet, in examining this mournful relic, felt a paper in the pocket and drew it out; it was a letter addressed to you, baron."
"To me?" cried Danglars.
"Yes, indeed, to you; I succeeded in deciphering your name under the blood with which the letter was stained," replied Monte Cristo, amid the general outburst of amazement.
"But," asked Madame Danglars, looking at her husband with uneasiness, "how could that prevent M. de Villefort"--
"In this simple way, madame," replied Monte Cristo; "the waistcoat and the letter were both what is termed circumstantial evidence; I therefore sent them to the king's attorney.
You understand, my dear baron, that legal methods are the safest in criminal cases; it was, perhaps, some plot against you."
Andrea looked steadily at Monte Cristo and disappeared in the second drawing-room.
"Possibly," said Danglars; "was not this murdered man an old galley-slave?"
"Yes," replied the count; "a felon named Caderousse."
Danglars turned slightly pale; Andrea reached the anteroom beyond the little drawing-room.
"But go on signing," said Monte Cristo; "I perceive that my story has caused a general emotion, and I beg to apologize to you, baroness, and to Mademoiselle Danglars."
The baroness, who had signed, returned the pen to the notary.
"Prince Cavalcanti," said the latter; "Prince Cavalcanti, where are you?"
"Andrea, Andrea," repeated several young people, who were already on sufficiently intimate terms with him to call him by his Christian name.
"Call the prince; inform him that it is his turn to sign," cried Danglars to one of the floorkeepers.
But at the same instant the crowd of guests rushed in alarm into the principal salon as if some frightful monster had entered the apartments, quaerens quem devoret.
There was, indeed, reason to retreat, to be alarmed, and to scream.
An officer was placing two soldiers at the door of each drawing-room, and was advancing towards Danglars, preceded by a commissary of police, girded with his scarf.
Madame Danglars uttered a scream and fainted.
Danglars, who thought himself threatened (certain consciences are never calm),--Danglars even before his guests showed a countenance of abject terror.
"What is the matter, sir?" asked Monte Cristo, advancing to meet the commissioner.
"Which of you gentlemen," asked the magistrate, without replying to the count, "answers to the name of Andrea Cavalcanti?"
A cry of astonishment was heard from all parts of the room.
They searched; they questioned.
"But who then is Andrea Cavalcanti?" asked Danglars in amazement.
"A galley-slave, escaped from confinement at Toulon."
"And what crime has he committed?"
"He is accused," said the commissary with his inflexible voice, "of having assassinated the man named Caderousse, his former companion in prison, at the moment he was making his escape from the house of the Count of Monte Cristo."
Monte Cristo cast a rapid glance around him.
Andrea was gone.
Chapter 97.
The Departure for Belgium.
A few minutes after the scene of confusion produced in the salons of M. Danglars by the unexpected appearance of the brigade of soldiers, and by the disclosure which had followed, the mansion was deserted with as much rapidity as if a case of plague or of cholera morbus had broken out among the guests. In a few minutes, through all the doors, down all the staircases, by every exit, every one hastened to retire, or rather to fly; for it was a situation where the ordinary condolences,--which even the best friends are so eager to offer in great catastrophes,--were seen to be utterly futile.
There remained in the banker's house only Danglars, closeted in his study, and making his statement to the officer of gendarmes; Madame Danglars, terrified, in the boudoir with which we are acquainted; and Eugenie, who with haughty air and disdainful lip had retired to her room with her inseparable companion, Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly.
As for the numerous servants (more numerous that evening than usual, for their number was augmented by cooks and butlers from the Cafe de Paris), venting on their employers their anger at what they termed the insult to which they had been subjected, they collected in groups in the hall, in the kitchens, or in their rooms, thinking very little of their duty, which was thus naturally interrupted.
Of all this household, only two persons deserve our notice; these are Mademoiselle Eugenie Danglars and Mademoiselle Louise d'Armilly.
The betrothed had retired, as we said, with haughty air, disdainful lip, and the demeanor of an outraged queen, followed by her companion, who was paler and more disturbed than herself.
On reaching her room Eugenie locked her door, while Louise fell on a chair.
"Ah, what a dreadful thing," said the young musician; "who would have suspected it?
M. Andrea Cavalcanti a murderer--a galley-slave escaped--a convict!"
An ironical smile curled the lip of Eugenie.
"In truth I was fated," said she. "I escaped the Morcerf only to fall into the Cavalcanti."
"Oh, do not confound the two, Eugenie."