Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 73: The Promise. (continued)

"But?"

"But I do not think so."

"Have pity on me doctor! So many dreadful things have happened to me lately that I am on the verge of madness."

"Has any one besides me seen Madame de Saint-Meran?"

"No."

"Has anything been sent for from a chemist's that I have not examined?"

"Nothing."

"Had Madame de Saint-Meran any enemies?"

"Not to my knowledge."

"Would her death affect any one's interest?"

"It could not indeed, my daughter is her only heiress -- Valentine alone. Oh, if such a thought could present itself, I would stab myself to punish my heart for having for one instant harbored it."

"Indeed, my dear friend," said M. d'Avrigny, "I would not accuse any one; I speak only of an accident, you understand, -- of a mistake, -- but whether accident or mistake, the fact is there; it is on my conscience and compels me to speak aloud to you. Make inquiry."

"Of whom? -- how? -- of what?"

"May not Barrois, the old servant, have made a mistake, and have given Madame de Saint-Meran a dose prepared for his master?"

"For my father?"

"Yes."

"But how could a dose prepared for M. Noirtier poison Madame de Saint-Meran?"