CHAPTER LXXVIII
NEWS FROM JANINA
RANZ quitted the chamber of Noirtier so agitated and trembling that Valentine herself would have pitied him. Villefort had only just given utterance to a few incoherent sentences, and then retired to his study, where he received about two hours afterward the following letter:
"After the disclosure made this morning, M. Noirtier de Villefort cannot suppose any alliance possible between his family and that of M. Franz d'Epinay. M. d'Epinay is astonished that M. de Villefort, who appeared to be aware of the circumstances detailed this morning, should not have anticipated him in this announcement."
No one who had seen the magistrate at this moment would have supposed that he had anticipated the blow; it certainly never had occurred to him that his father would carry candor, or rather rudeness, so far as to relate such a history. In truth, Noirtier, who never cared for the opinion of his son, had never explained the affair to Villefort, so that he had always believed that the General de Quesnel, or the Baron d'Epinay, as he was styled, according as the speaker wished to use the title he had won for himself, or that conferred by others, fell the victim of assassination, and not that he was killed fairly in a duel. This harsh letter, from a young man generally so respectful, struck a mortal blow at the pride of Villefort.
Hardly had he read the letter, when his wife entered. The departure of Franz, when summoned by Noirtier, had so much astonished every one, that the position of Madame de Villefort, left alone with the notary and the witnesses, became every moment more embarrassing. Determined to bear it no longer, she left the room, saying she was going to see what had happened.
Villefort told her that an explanation had taken place between Noirtier, d'Epinay, and himself, and that the marriage of Valentine and
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