Alexandre Dumas: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 45: The Rain of Blood. (continued)

"`There,' said La Carconte, as she placed a bottle of wine on the table, `supper is ready whenever you are.' -- `And you?' asked Joannes. -- `I don't want any supper,' said Caderousse. -- `We dined so very late,' hastily interposed La Carconte. -- `Then it seems I am to eat alone,' remarked the jeweller. -- `Oh, we shall have the pleasure of waiting upon you,' answered La Carconte, with an eager attention she was not accustomed to manifest even to guests who paid for what they took.

"From time to time Caderousse darted on his wife keen, searching glances, but rapid as the lightning flash. The storm still continued. `There, there,' said La Carconte; `do you hear that? upon my word, you did well to come back.' -- `Nevertheless,' replied the jeweller, `if by the time I have finished my supper the tempest has at all abated, I shall make another start.' -- `It's the mistral,' said Caderousse, `and it will be sure to last till to-morrow morning.' He sighed heavily. -- `Well,' said the jeweller, as he placed himself at table, `all I can say is, so much the worse for those who are abroad.' -- `Yes,' chimed in La Carconte, `they will have a wretched night of it.'

"The jeweller began eating his supper, and the woman, who was ordinarily so querulous and indifferent to all who approached her, was suddenly transformed into the most smiling and attentive hostess. Had the unhappy man on whom she lavished her assiduities been previously acquainted with her, so sudden an alteration might well have excited suspicion in his mind, or at least have greatly astonished him. Caderousse, meanwhile, continued to pace the room in gloomy silence, sedulously avoiding the sight of his guest; but as soon as the stranger had completed his repast, the agitated inn-keeper went eagerly to the door and opened it. `I believe the storm is over,' said he. But as if to contradict his statement, at that instant a violent clap of thunder seemed to shake the house to its very foundation, while a sudden gust of wind, mingled with rain, extinguished the lamp he held in his hand. Trembling and awe-struck, Caderousse hastily shut the door and returned to his guest, while La Carconte lighted a candle by the smouldering ashes that glimmered on the hearth. `You must be tired,' said she to the jeweller; `I have spread a pair of white sheets on your bed; go up when you are ready, and sleep well.'