Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 4).djvu/71

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THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO.
53

"It was about four o'clock in the afternoon; and although the day was brilliant out-of-doors, we were in the gloom of the cavern. One single light was burning there, and it appeared like a star set in a heaven of blackness; it was Selim's flaming lance. My mother was a Christian,

Selim's Assassination.

and she prayed. Selim repeated from time to time these sacred words: 'God is great!' However, my mother had still some hope. As she was coming down, she thought she recognized the French officer who had been sent to Constantinople, and in whom my father placed so much confidence, for he knew that all the soldiers of the French sultan were