Morrel back. No doubt, now, we shall hear that our friend is released!”
Mercédès and the old man rushed to meet the shipowner and greeted him at the door. He was very pale.
“What news?” exclaimed a general burst of voices.
“Alas, my friends,” replied M. Morrel, with a mournful shake of his head, “the thing has assumed a more serious aspect than I expected.”
“Oh, indeed—indeed, sir, he is innocent!” sobbed forth Mercédès.
“That I believe!” answered M. Morrel; “but still he is charged—”
“With what?” inquired the elder Dantès.
“With being an agent of the Bonapartist faction!” Many of our readers may be able to recollect how formidable such an accusation became in the period at which our story is dated.