would have shed his heart’s blood; but these tears flowed for another. He arose, paced a while up and down the hut, and then, suddenly stopping before Mercédès, with his eyes glowing and his hands clenched—“Say, Mercédès,” he said, “once for all, is this your final determination?”
“I love Edmond Dantès,” the young girl calmly replied, “and none but Edmond shall ever be my husband.”
“And you will always love him?”
“As long as I live.”
Fernand let fall his head like a defeated man, heaved a sigh that was like a groan, and then suddenly looking her full in the face, with clenched teeth and expanded nostrils, said—“But if he is dead—”
“If he is dead, I shall die too.”
“If he has forgotten you—”
“Mercédès!” called a joyous voice from without—“Mercédès!”
“Ah,” exclaimed the young girl, blushing with delight, and fairly leaping in excess of love, “you see he has not forgotten