Caderousse paused.
“And yet what?” asked the abbé.
“Yet, I am sure, she is not happy,” said Caderousse.
“What makes you believe this?”
“Why, when I found myself utterly destitute, I thought my old friends would, perhaps, assist me. So I went to Danglars, who would not even receive me. I called on Fernand, who sent me a hundred francs by his valet-de-chambre.”
“Then you did not see either of them?”
“No, but Madame de Morcerf saw me.”
“How was that?”
“As I went away a purse fell at my feet—it contained five-and-twenty louis; I raised my head quickly, and saw Mercédès, who at once shut the blind.”
“And M. de Villefort?” asked the abbé.
“Oh, he never was a friend of mine, I did not know him, and I had nothing to ask of him.”
“Do you not know what became of him, and the share he had in Edmond’s misfortunes?”
“No; I only know that some time after Edmond’s arrest, he married Mademoiselle de Saint-Méran, and soon after left Marseilles; no doubt he has been as lucky as the rest; no doubt he is as rich as Danglars, as high in station as Fernand. I only, as you see, have remained poor, wretched, and forgotten.”