THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO.
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had endowed me with it to work out his own great designs. From that time I viewed this fortune as confided to me for a particular purpose. Not a thought was given to a life which you once, Mercédès, had the power to render blissful; not one hour of peaceful calm was mine, but I felt myself driven on like an exterminating angel. Like those adventurous
Monte-Cristo and Mercédès.
captains about to embark on some enterprise full of danger, I laid in my provisions, I loaded my arms, I collected every means of attack and defense; I inured my body to the most violent exercises, my Soul to the bitterest trials; I taught my arm to slay, my eyes to behold excruciating sufferings, and my mouth to smile at the most horrid spec-
