"Carmen!"

"Oh! I am not complaining. You were rich, you gave me jewels and fine clothes. I was only sixteen, I forgot your brutality and I remained with you. When you came back to France you told me that a certain regard must be paid to appearances, that we must lie, in short, and I agreed to pa.s.s as your daughter. And now, I ask"--she folded her arms on her breast--"I ask why you did not marry me?"

"Good heavens! because--"

"Because what? You cannot give me a good reason. Not a word of truth can ever be torn from you. I am convinced that back of all these lies there is some horrible infamy which you dare not acknowledge even to me."

"Carmen! no more of this, I implore you! What has gone wrong with you?"

"Everything. I simply wish to know, and am resolved to know, who you are--if not--"

"If not?"

"I have not quite decided. There are some things, bad as I am, which I will not stand, and I will make it the business of my life to discover what crimes you have committed, and I will denounce you!"

Laisangy started to his feet.

"Look at yourself in the mirror," cried Carmen, "and tell me if you do not look like a murderer!"

Laisangy bit his lips so fiercely that the blood started. Then suddenly, as if a thought had struck him, he cried:

"Come now, Carmen, don't say any more nasty things to me. I am an old man and have had many troubles."

"Indeed?"

"You have never questioned me like this before. Even my appet.i.te offends you. Surely, there is no crime in that! You want to know something about me. One thing I will tell you--it may strike you as rather a joke. Once in Italy, going from one city to another, I had a large sum of money with me, and I was taken by brigands. These villains took it into their heads to sell me every mouthful I ate at its weight in gold. For some time I would not yield, and was nearly starved. Since that time I have had paroxysms of violent hunger. Do you see?"

Carmen did not see, and she said:

"But why did not the brigands take your money without subjecting you to this torture?"

Laisangy looked troubled as he replied:

"I am sure I don't know."

"It looks to me as if these men whom you call brigands were inflicting a chastis.e.m.e.nt upon you, perhaps."

"Carmen!"

"Come, throw down your cards. I tell you I will no longer submit to this miserable farce we are playing here. I will no longer call myself your daughter, nor will I be dragged into the maze of intrigues which I divine."

"Carmen! once more I implore you--"

"I will not be your accomplice and be dragged by you into an abyss of infamy!"

"But why should you say such things? I am rich, and honored by the favor of the Emperor."

"A fine recommendation, that!" cried Carmen, disdainfully.

"I am respected and honored by every one."

Carmen rose from her chair and looked the banker full in the face.

"Then tell me why, when we were at the _soiree_ last evening, at a name p.r.o.nounced by a lacquey you became ghastly pale."

"You are mistaken--"

"It is true; you fled as if you had seen a ghost, and the name was Monte-Cristo."

Laisangy was terrible to look at.

"Hold your tongue! Hold your tongue!" and the banker rushed toward her with uplifted hand.

But Carmen, with her arms folded upon her breast, looked at him with such disdain that his arm fell at his side.

"And this is not all," she continued. "You met many enemies last evening, it seems; for some one said in the garden, 'Take care that you do not learn my name too soon, Monsieur de Laisangy.' These may not be the precise words, but they are nearly so."

"Ah! you are a spy, then! Look out!"

"I am not in the least afraid of you; but let me tell you that your present conduct strengthens all my suspicions, and I, in my turn, bid you look out! I shall learn the truth, and then--"

"And then--"

"I shall leave you. But if, in self-defence, you raise a finger against one whom I esteem, I will denounce you!"

Laisangy, exasperated beyond all self-control, seized a knife from the table. The door opened and the maid entered.

"Here is a card which the gentleman wished me to hand you at once, sir."

Carmen took the card and read the name.

"Signor f.a.giano!" she read aloud. "Ah! he has come to tell you his right name, I fancy!"

Laisangy took the card from Carmen's hand and dashed from the room.

Carmen said, half aloud:

"Goutran is the friend of the Vicomte de Monte-Cristo. I will watch!"

CHAPTER LV.

THE BANKER.

Signor f.a.giano was standing, when Monsieur de Laisangy entered the room.

He was a man of fifty, but extremely fine looking, with a little of the air of the Duc de Morny in his best days. He had, however, a scar across one cheek that disfigured him. No one would have recognized him as the convict Benedetto. Laisangy entered with a pale face of disdain.