The others did not dare.

"Who was that crying?" they asked.

"That was Lami," replied Bouffier. Then, when he had returned,
they asked him:

"Well, what did you see at the bottom?"

"A queer marmalade," said he. "Men and women, priests and pretty
girls, all helter-skelter. It's enough to make one die of laughter."

"Decidedly man is a vile creature," said the Count of Monte-Cristo
to M. de Villefort.

Well, it is in this town, still reeking with blood, still warm,
still stirred by these last massacres, that we now introduce
two of the principal personages of our story.




CHAPTER I

A TABLE D'HOTE

The 9th of October, 1799, on a beautiful day of that meridional
autumn which ripens the oranges of Hyeres and the grapes of
Saint-Peray, at the two extremities of Provence, a travelling
chaise, drawn by three post horses, galloped at full speed over