there.
“The countess,” said Morcerf, “was at her toilet when she was informed
of the visit she was about to receive. She will, however, be in the
salon in ten minutes.”
“It is a great honor to me,” returned Monte Cristo, “to be thus, on the
first day of my arrival in Paris, brought in contact with a man whose
merit equals his reputation, and to whom fortune has for once been
equitable, but has she not still on the plains of Mitidja, or in the
mountains of Atlas, a marshal’s staff to offer you?”
“Oh,” replied Morcerf, reddening slightly, “I have left the service,
monsieur. Made a peer at the Restoration, I served through the first
campaign under the orders of Marshal Bourmont. I could, therefore,
expect a higher rank, and who knows what might have happened had the
elder branch
