"Well, dear?" said Dantès, smiling at the warmth of his wife in his behalf.
"But it is not 'well,' Edmond. I say no one is as disinterested as you."
"Ah! love, what of ambition?"
Mercédès smiled.
"Let me tell you all, love, and then you will not, I fear, think me disinterested," said Dantès seriously. "I should blush, indeed, at praise so little deserved. You know all my early history. I suffered--I was wronged--I was revenged. But was I happy? I sought happiness. All men do so, even the most miserable. Some seek happiness in gratified ambition, some in gratified avarice, some in gratified vanity, and some in the gratification of a dominant lust for pleasure or for power. I sought happiness in gratified revenge!"
Mercédès shuddered, and, hiding her face on the bosom of her husband, clung to it more closely as if for protection. Dantès drew her form to his as he would have drawn that of a child, and continued: "I sought happiness in vengeance for terrible wrongs, and to win it I devoted a life and countless wealth. What was the result? Misery!--misery!--misery!"
"Poor Edmond!" murmured Mercédès, clinging to him closer than ever.
"At length I awoke, as from a dream. I saw my error. My whole life had been a lie. I saw that God by a miracle had bestowed on me untold riches for a nobler purpose than to make his creatures wretched. I saw that if I would be happy I must make others happy, and to this end--the happiness, not the misery, of my race--must my wealth and power be devoted. To this end, then, did I devote myself, and to this end, for six years, have I been devoted--to make myself happy by making others happy--you among the rest, dear, dear Mercédès," he added, pressing her to his bosom. "And am I then so disinterested?"
"But why should you achieve triumphs for others to enjoy, Edmond?" asked the wife.
"You refer to the Provisional Government," said Dantès with a smile. "Well, I see I must tell you all, even though by the revelation I prove myself utterly unworthy of the praise of disinterestedness. I may tell you, love--you my second self--without danger of being charged with egotism, what I might not say to others. Our friend Lamartine is the actual head of this Government. I had but to assent to the urgent entreaties to secure that position for myself. These appointments seem the result of nomination by the people. Yet they are not!"
"And why did you refuse to head the Government, Edmond?"