"So near as that!" said the count; "but that is not in the country. What made you choose a house at the gates of Paris, M. Bertuccio?"
"I!" cried the steward, with a strange expression. "M. le Comte did not charge me to purchase this house. If M. le Comte will recollect—if he will think"
"Ah, true," observed Monte-Cristo; "I recollect now. I read the advertisement in one of the papers, and was tempted by the false title, 'a country-house.'"
"It is not yet too late," cried Bertuccio, eagerly; "and if your excellency will intrust me with the commission, I will find you a better at Enghien, at Fontenay-aux-Roses, or at Bellevue."
"Oh, no," returned Monte-Cristo, negligently; "since I have this, I will keep it."
"And you are quite right," said the notary, who feared to lose his fee. "It is quite a charming place, well supplied with spring water and fine trees; a comfortable habitation, although abandoned for a long time; without reckoning the furniture, which, although old, is yet valuable, now that old things are so much sought after. I suppose M. le Comte has the tastes of the day?"
"To be sure," returned Monte-Cristo; "it is very convenient, then?"
"It is more—it is magnificent."
"Peste! let us not lose such an opportunity," returned Monte-Cristo. "The deed, if you please, M. le Notaire."
And he signed it rapidly, after having first run his eye over that part of the deed in which were specified the situation of the house and the names of the proprietors.
"Bertuccio," said he, "give fifty-five thousand francs to monsieur."
The steward left the room with a faltering step, and returned with a bundle of bank-notes, which the notary counted like a man who never gives a receipt for money until after legal examination.
"And now," demanded the count, "are all the forms complied with?"
"All, M. le Comte."
"Have you the keys?"
"They are in the hands of the concierge, who takes care of the house; but here is the order I have given him to install M. le Comte in his new possession."
"Very well." And Monte-Cristo made a sign with his hand to the notary, which said, "I have no further need of you; you may go."
"But," observed the honest notary, "you are mistaken, I think, M. le Comte; it is only fifty thousand francs, everything included."
"And your fee?"
"Is included in this sum."
"But have you not come from Auteuil here?"
