A bolt grated; Danglars was a prisoner; besides, had there been no bolt, it would have been impossible for him to escape through the midst of the garrison who held the catacombs of St. Sebastian, encamped around a master whom our readers must have recognized as the famous Luigi Vampa. Danglars, too, had recognized the bandit, whose existence he would not believe when Albert de Morcerf mentioned him in Paris . . . They had arrested him for the purpose of robbery, and as he had only a few louis about him, he doubted not he would be ransomed.
‘Do you repent?’ asked a deep, solemn voice, which caused Danglars’ hair to stand on end . . . ‘Then I forgive you,’ said the man, dropping his cloak and advancing to the light . . . ‘I am Edmond Dantès!’ . . . Danglars uttered a cry and fell prostrate. ‘Rise . . . your life is safe; the same good fortune has not happened to your accomplices: one is mad, the other dead. Keep the 50,000 francs you have left, I give them to you . . . And now, eat and drink: I will entertain you to-night. Vampa, when this man is satisfied, let him go.’
’Oh heavens!’ exclaimed Monte Cristo, ‘can my suspicions be correct? Haydée, would it please you not to leave me? . . . Do you love me?’ . . . The count felt his heart dilate and throb; he opened his arms, and Haydée, uttering a cry, sprang into them. ‘Let it be, then, as you wish, sweet angel; God has sustained me in my struggle with my enemies, and has given me this victory; he will not let me end my triumph with this penance; I wished to punish myself, but he has pardoned me! Love me then, Haydée!’
Everything that is in this grotto, my friend, my house in the Champs Élysées, and my château at Tréport, are the marriage gifts bestowed by Edmond Dantès upon the son of his old master, Morrel. Mademoiselle de Villefort will share them with you . . . Tell the angel who will watch over your future destiny, Morrel, to pray sometimes for a man who, like Satan, thought himself, for an instant, equal to God; but who now acknowledges, with Christian humility, that god alone possesses supreme power and infinite wisdom.
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