"Oh, no! In the first place, let us agree that the word poison does not exist, because in medicine use is made of the most violent poisons, which become, according as they are made use of, most salutory remedies."
"What, then, is it?"
"A skillful preparation of my friend's the worthy Abbé Adelmonte, who taught me the use of it."
"Oh," observed Madame de Villefort, "it must be an admirable anti-spasmodic."
"Perfect, madame, as you have seen," replied the count; "and I frequently make use of it with all possible prudence, though, be it observed," he added, with a smile of intelligence.
"Most assuredly," responded Madame de Villefort, in the same tone. "As for me, so nervous, and so subject to fainting-fits, I should require a Doctor Adelmonte to invent for me some means of breathing freely and tranquilizing my mind, in the fear I have of dying some fine day of suffocation. In the meanwhile, as the thing is difficult to find in France, and your abbé is not probably disposed to make a journey to Paris on my account, I must continue to use the anti-spasmodics of M. Planche; and mint and Hoffman's drops are amongst my favorite remedies. Here are some lozenges which I have made up on purpose; they are compounded doubly strong."
Monte-Cristo opened the tortoise-shell box, which the lady presented to him, and imbibed the odor of the lozenges with the air of an amateur who thoroughly appreciated their composition.
"They are indeed exquisite," he said; "but as they are necessarily submitted to the process of deglutition a function which it is frequently impossible for a fainting person to accomplish I prefer my own specific."
"Undoubtedly, and so should I prefer it, after the effects I have seen produced; but of course it is a secret, and I am not so indiscreet as to ask it of you."
"But I," said Monte-Cristo, rising as he spoke "I am gallant enough to offer it you."
"Oh, sir!"
"Only remember one thing a small dose is a remedy, a large one is poison. One drop will restore life, as you have witnessed; five or six will inevitably kill, and in a way the more terrible inasmuch as, poured into a glass of wine, it would not in the slightest degree effect its flavor. But I say no more, madame; it is really as if I were advising you."
The clock struck half-past six, and a lady was announced, a friend of Madame de Villefort, who came to dine with her.
