The Washington herald., 1919-08-27

the sea and was pulled aboard an out
ward-bound bark. Each moment Mar
seilleS receded further into the dis
tance. He learned from his shipmates
that IT was February IS. 1879. He had
been shut away from the world fol
fourteen years. He wondered what
had become of Mercedes. Then he
thought OF Danglars. Fernsnd fano
VilIcfort. A baleful light fiickered In
his hard eyes.
Edmond had fallen in with a band
of smugslers. On one Of their voy-
ages. he gazcd eagerly at a granite
mass rose-hued in the dawn. 1t was
Monte Cristo. A few weeks later
chance brought him to the island
None of his comrades suspected the
leaping thoughts that thronged in Ed
mond's mind. They were simple folk
easily deceived. Edmond fell from a
rock and complained that he was &c
hurt that he could not move. He was
confident. he insisted. that he couI0
cure himself If he were left here. At
last they sailed away. When the
boat was out OF sight, he leaped &c
his feet, seized his pickaS. and cried
Open. Sesame" lie was alone on
Monte Carlo.
Following the clues Of the Abbe's
ancient manuscript. he located the
great slab of rock. overgrown with
vegetation. He SlaShed at the edges
with his pickaX and made i hole
With his horn Of powder. lie easily
blasted the rock away. Before him
was an iron ring embedded in a flag
stone. He raised II and saw d flight
of stairs. With hope mingled with
a strange misgivins. he descended
broke open passage into an inner
cave. and dug away the earth over
an oak Golfer bound With iron. He
burst 1t open and there blazed gold
coins, bars of gold, diamonds, rubies
and pearls that giittered in glorious
profusion.
When Edmond came back 70 France,
it was as the Count OF Monte Cristo-
faoulously wealthy, romantic in ap-
pearance, performer of miracles. lii,
betrayers had risen to heights Of
fame and sfruence. Danglars was q
wealthy banker; Fernand an. honorec
warrior: Eiliefort high in Office. Mer-
cedes, believing Edmond dead. hac
yielded to Fernand's inporunate
pleadings and had married him.
Zealously did the Count of Mont.
Cristo devote his days and nights
to ruin these three. Usually II was
in his own unreconixed personality
that he dazzled Paris with his feasts,
his extravagances, his prodigal out
lays. Everyone paid court to this
mysterious stranger who rained
gold about him. Sometimes he dis
guised himself,-now as the Abbe
Busoni, now as the Italian LazZone.
now as the English Lord Wilmore,
now as Sinbad the Sailor.
He tortured Danglars, Fernand,
Villefort.' methodically and yet so
skilfully that they did not know the
hand that directed the blows that
fell upon them. Piece by piece
Danglars' fortune was Topped away.
At last he was beggared, the bitter
est blow that could have befallen
him. Fernand, enmeshed slowly ir
revelations Of his guilty past, finally
blew out his brains: Villefort. his
crimes dragged into the light of day,
went raving mad. Mercedes. made
poor but happy in the love OF her
devoted son, lived on, penitent
Yet were there those whom Monte
Cristo rewarded. The noble Morrel,
his former employer, was saved from
bankruptcy by mysterious Eng
lishman who presented him with
notes he could not meet. And on the
uninhabited island OF Monte Cristo,
Morrers son. true and tried as his
father. learned that Villefort's
daughter. the girl who had remained
fine through all vicissitydeS. still
lived. She stood beside him on the
pinnacle of the island and they look
ed with blurred eyes into the dis
tance, where each moment q ship
grow fainter and fainter. 1t was
bearing from their sight the ma,
who had once been Edmond Dantes.
with him was the radiant Haydee,
the mysterious princess whose beau
ty had outshone all the beauties Of
Paris In her love Edmond had at
last forgotten all i"that> he did not
now want to remember.
CepyTisht. lN0. By the Post Publishing Co.
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