# The Count of Monte-Cristo/Volume 2/Chapter 38

Contents
CHAPTER XXXVIII
THE RENDEZVOUS
LBERT'S first words to his friend, on the following morning, contained a request that Franz would accompany him to visit the count; true, he had thanked him the previous evening; but services such as he had rendered could never be too often acknowledged. Franz, whom an attraction mingled with dread drew toward the count, did not wish to permit his friend to go to him alone, and therefore accompanied him. After a short delay, the count joined them in the saloon.
"M. le Comte," said Albert, advancing to meet him, "permit me to repeat the poor thanks I offered last night, and to assure you that I shall never forget under what circumstances you came to my assistance, and shall always remember that to you I am indebted even for my life."
"My good friend and neighbor," replied the count, with a smile, "you really exaggerate my trifling exertions. You owe me nothing but some trifle of twenty thousand francs, which you have saved out of your traveling expenses—that is all, a matter not worth talking about; but you must permit me to congratulate you on courage and coolness."
"Upon my word," said Albert, "I just imagined that I had got into an awkward scrape and a duel had followed it; and I wished to let those bandits see that although men fight all over the world, there is no nation but the French can smile and fight. All that, however, has nothing to do with my obligations to you, and I now come to ask you whether, in my own person, my family, or connections, I can in any way serve you? My father, the Comte de Morcerf, although of Spanish origin, possesses considerable influence, both in France and in Spain, and I place myself, and all to whom my life is dear, at your disposal." ​ "M. de Morcerf," said the count, "your offer, far from surprising me, is precisely what I expected from you, and I accept it gladly. I had previously made up my mind to ask a great favor at your hands."
"Oh, pray name it."
"I am wholly a stranger to Paris it is a city I have never yet seen."
"Is it possible," exclaimed Albert, "that you have been able to live so long without seeing Paris? I can scarcely credit it."
"Nevertheless, it is quite true; still I agree with you in thinking that a longer ignorance of the first city in Europe is impossible; but in all probability, I should have performed this necessary duty, had I known any person who would have introduced me into the fashionable world."
"Oh, a man like you!" cried Albert.
"You are most kind; but as regards myself, I can find no merit I possess, save that, as a millionaire, I might be a rival of M. Aguado and M. Rothschild; but as I do not go to Paris to dabble in the funds, I staid away for the reason mentioned. Your offer, however, decides me, and I have only to ask you, my dear M. de Morcerf" (these words were accompanied by a most peculiar smile), "whether you undertake, upon my arrival in France, to open to me the doors of that world of which I know no more than a Huron or native of Cochin-China."
"Oh, that I do, and with pleasure!" answered Albert, "and so much the more readily as a letter received this morning summons me to Paris to discuss an alliance (my dear Franz, do not smile, I beg of you) with a very agreeable family with good connections in Parisian society."
"Alliance by marriage, you mean," said Franz laughingly.
"Oh, yes!" answered Albert. "So by the time you return to Paris, I shall be quite a sober, staid father of a family. That will suit my natu ral gravity. In any case, my dear count, command me and mine to any extent you please."
"Then it is a settled affair," said the count; "I only waited an oppor tunity like the present to realize schemes I have long meditated."
Franz doubted not that these schemes were the same concerning which he had dropped some words in the grotto of Monte-Cristo; and while the count gave utterance to the expression, the young man closely examined his features in the hope of tracing these projects upon his expressive countenance; but it was impossible to read the thoughts of this man, especially when he hid them with a smile.
​ "I pledge you my honor," returned the count, "I wish to go to Paris; I must go there."
"When do you propose going?"
"When shall you be there yourself?"
"In a fortnight or three weeks' time; that is to say, as fast as I can get there!"
"Nay," said the count, "I will give you three months; you see I give good measure."
"And in three months' time," said Albert, "you will knock at my door?"
"Shall we make an appointment for a particular day and hour?" inquired the count; "let me warn you that I am a man of desperate exactitude."
"The very thing!" exclaimed Albert; "day and hour!"
"So be it, then," replied the count, and extending his hand toward an almanac, suspended near the chimney-piece, he said:
"To-day is the 21st of February," and drawing out his watch, added, "it is exactly half-past ten o'clock in the morning. Now, expect me the 21st of May at the same hour in the forenoon."
"Capital!" exclaimed Albert; "breakfast shall be ready."
"Where do you live?"
"No. 27, Rue du Helder."
"Have you bachelor's apartments there? I will not put you to any inconvenience."
"I reside in my father's hotel, but in a pavilion at the farther side of the court-yard, entirely separate."
"Good," replied the count, as, taking out his tablets, he wrote down "No. 27, Rue du Helder, 21st May, half-past ten in the morning."
"Now, then," said the count, returning his tablets to his pocket, "make yourself easy; the hand of your timepiece will not be more accurate than myself."
"Shall I see you again ere my departure?" asked Albert.
"That will be according to circumstances; but when do you set off?"
"To-morrow evening at five o'clock."
"In that case I must say adieu. I am compelled to go to Naples and shall not return hither before Saturday evening or Sunday morning. And you, M. le Baron," pursued the count, addressing Franz, "do you also depart to-morrow?"
"Yes, I go also."
"And whither do you wend your way f to Paris?"
"No, to Venice; I shall remain in Italy for another year or two."
​"I fear I shall not have that honor."
"Well, then," said the count, holding out a hand to each of the young men, "a pleasant journey to you both?"
It was the first time the hand of Franz had touched his, and he shuddered, for it felt cold as that of a corpse.
"Let us understand each other," said Albert; "it is agreed—is it not?—that you are to be in the Rue du Helder on the 21st of May, at half-past ten in the morning, on your honor?"
"May 21st, half-past ten, No. 27, Rue du Helder," replied the count. ​ The young men then rose and quitted the room.
"What is the matter?" asked Albert of Franz, when they had returned to their own apartments; "you seem thoughtful."
"Yes, I grant it," replied Franz; "the count is a singular man, and this appointment you have made to meet him in Paris fills me with apprehension."
"This appointment apprehension! Why, you are crazy, my dear Franz!" exclaimed Albert.
"Crazy or not," answered Franz, "it is so."
"Listen to me, Franz," said Albert: "I am not sorry that our present conversation gives me an opportunity of saying this. I find you always very cool to the count, while him on his side I have always found, perfectly friendly to us. Have you any private reasons for so acting?"
"Possibly."
"Did you ever meet him previously to coming hither?"
"I have."
"And where?"
"Will you promise me not to repeat a single word of what I am about to tell you?"
"I do."
"On your honor?"
"On my honor."
"Then listen to me."
Franz then related to his friend his excursion to the isle of Monte-Cristo, and of his finding a party of smugglers there, with whom were two Corsican bandits. He dwelt with considerable force on the almost fairy-like hospitality he had received from the count, in the grotto of the Thousand and one Nights.
He recounted the hashish, the statues, the dream and reality, and how, at his awakening, there remained no proof or trace of all these events, save the small yacht, sailing away toward Porto-Vecchio.
Then he passed to Rome, the night in the Colosseum, the conversation between him and Vampa, in which the count had promised to obtain the release of the bandit Peppino,—an engagement which, as our readers are aware, he most faithfully fulfilled.
At last he arrived at the adventure of the preceding night, and the embarrassment in which he found himself placed by not having sufficient cash to complete the sum of six hundred or seven hundred piastres. with the circumstance of his having applied to the count—an impulse which had led to results so picturesque and satisfactory. Albert listened with the most profound attention.
"Well," said he, when Franz had concluded, "what do you find to object to, in all you have related? The count is fond of traveling, and ​ being rich, possesses a vessel of Ms own. Go but to Portsmouth or Southampton, and you will find the harbors crowded with the yachts belonging to such of the English as have the same fancy. Now, by way of having a resting-place during his excursions, to avoid the wretched cookery which has been poisoning me during the last four months and you for four years, and to have a bed on which it is possible to slumber, Monte-Cristo has furnished for himself a little dwelling where you first found him. When his little dwelling was finished he feared that the Tuscan Government might bid him be off and all his expenses lost; there fore, he bought the island and assumed its name. Just ask yourself, my good fellow, whether there are not many persons of our acquaintance who assume the names of properties they never had in possession?"
"But," said Franz, "how do you account for the circumstance of the Corsican bandits being among the crew of his vessel?"
"Why, really, the thing seems to me simple enough. Nobody knows better than yourself that the bandits of Corsica are not thieves, but purely and simply fugitives, driven by some vendetta from their native town or village, and that their fellowship involves no disgrace; for my own part, I protest that, should I ever visit Corsica, my first visit, ere even I presented myself to the mayor or governor, should be to the bandits of Colomba, if I could only manage to find them; for I admire them."
"Still," persisted Franz, "Vampa and his band have no other motive than plunder when they seize your person. How do you explain the influence the count has over those ruffians?"
"My good friend, as in all probability I owe my life to that influence, it would ill become me to search too closely into its source; therefore, instead of condemning him, you must give me leave to excuse him; not altogether for preserving my life, for my own idea was that it never was in much danger, but certainly for saving me four thousand piastres, which, being translated, means neither more nor less than twenty-four thousand livres of our money a sum at which, most assuredly, I should never have been estimated in France; proving most indisputably," added Albert, with a laugh, "that no prophet is honored in his own country."
​"My dear Franz," replied Albert, "when, upon receipt of my letter, you found the necessity of asking the count's assistance, you promptly went to him, saying, 'My friend Albert de Morcerf is in danger; help me to deliver him' Was not that nearly what you said?"
"It was."
"Well, then, did he ask you, 'Who is M. Albert de Morcerf? how does he come by his name—his fortune? what are his means of existence? what is his birthplace? of what country is he a native?' Tell me, did he put all these questions to you?" ​ "I confess he asked me none."
"No; he merely came and freed me from the hands of Signor Vampa, where, spite of all my appearance of unconcern, I did not very particularly care to remain. Now, then, Franz, when, in return for such services, he but asks me to do for him what is done daily for any Russian prince or Italian noble who may pass through Paris merely to introduce him into society would you have me refuse? My good fellow, you must have lost your senses."
And this time it must be confessed that, contrary to what was usually the case, all the good arguments were on Albert's side.
"Well," said Franz, with a sigh, "do as you please, my dear viscount, for your arguments are specious, I allow. Still, in spite of all, this Count of Monte-Cristo is a most singular personage."
"He is a philanthropist," answered the other; "and no doubt his motive in visiting Paris is to compete for the Monthyon prize. If my vote and interest can obtain it for him, I will readily give him the one and promise the other. And now, my dear Franz, let us talk of some thing else. Come, shall we take our luncheon, and then pay a last visit to St. Peter's?"
Franz silently assented; and the following afternoon, at half-past five o'clock, the young men parted, Albert de Morcerf to return to Paris, and Franz d'Epinay to pass a fortnight at Venice.
But, ere he entered his traveling carriage, Albert, in the fear of his expected guest forgetting the engagement, placed in the care of the waiter of the hotel a card to be delivered to the Count of Monte-Cristo, on which, beneath the name of Albert de Morcerf, he had written in pencil: