Valentine was on the point of relating all, but she suddenly remembered that there was a terrible secret which concerned others as well as her grandfather, and she said:
"At some future time I will tell you all about it."
"But when will that be?"
"When I am your wife."
The conversation had now turned upon a topic that made Morrel ready to accede to anything. He was, therefore, satisfied with what he had just heard, and which was enough for one day. However, he would not leave without the promise of seeing Valentine again the next night. Valentine promised all that Morrel required of her, and certainly it was less difficult now for her to believe that she should marry Maximilian than it was an hour ago to assure herself that she should not marry Franz.
During the time occupied by the interview we have just detailed, Madame de Villefort had gone to visit Noirtier. The old man looked at her with that stern and forbidding expression with which he was accustomed to receive her.
"Sir," said she, "it is superfluous for me to tell you that Valentine's marriage is broken off, since it was here that the rupture took place."
Noirtier's countenance remained immovable.
"But one thing I do not think you are aware of; that is, that I have always been opposed to this marriage, and that it was entered into entirely without my consent."
Noirtier regarded his daughter-in-law with the look of a man desiring an explanation.
"Now that this marriage, which I know you so much disliked, is done away with, I come to you on an errand which neither M. de Villefort nor Valentine could consistently undertake."
Noirtier's eyes demanded the nature of her mission. "I come to entreat you, sir," continued Madame de Villefort, "as the only one who has the right, inasmuch as I am the only one who will receive no benefit. I come to entreat you to restore, not your love, for that she has always possessed, but your fortune to your grand daughter."
There was a doubtful expression in Noirtier's eyes; he was evidently trying to discover the motive of this proceeding, and he could not succeed in doing so.
"May I hope, sir," said Madame de Villefort, "that your intentions accord with my request?"
Noirtier made a sign that they did.
