Chapter 4. Conspiracy (2) Capítulo 4 Conspiración (2) Bölüm 4. Komplo (2)

"And why, I should like to know," persisted Caderousse, "should they put Dantes in prison? he has not robbed or killed or murdered." "Hold your tongue!" said Danglars.

"I won't hold my tongue!" replied Caderousse; "I say I want to know why they should put Dantes in prison; I like Dantes; Dantes, your health!" and he swallowed another glass of wine.

Danglars saw in the muddled look of the tailor the progress of his intoxication, and turning towards Fernand, said, "Well, you understand there is no need to kill him." "Certainly not, if, as you said just now, you have the means of having Dantes arrested. Have you that means?" "It is to be found for the searching. "C'est à trouver pour la recherche. But why should I meddle in the matter? Mais pourquoi devrais-je m'en mêler ? it is no affair of mine." "I know not why you meddle," said Fernand, seizing his arm; "but this I know, you have some motive of personal hatred against Dantes, for he who himself hates is never mistaken in the sentiments of others." — Je ne sais pourquoi vous vous mêlez, dit Fernand en lui saisissant le bras ; mais cela, je le sais, vous avez quelque motif de haine personnelle contre Dantès, car celui qui hait lui-même ne se trompe jamais dans les sentiments des autres. "I!--motives of hatred against Dantes? None, on my word! I saw you were unhappy, and your unhappiness interested me; that's all; but since you believe I act for my own account, adieu, my dear friend, get out of the affair as best you may;" and Danglars rose as if he meant to depart. J'ai vu que vous étiez malheureux, et votre malheur m'intéressait ; c'est tout; mais puisque vous croyez que j'agis pour mon propre compte, adieu, mon cher ami, tirez-vous de l'affaire du mieux que vous pourrez ; » et Danglars se leva comme s'il voulait partir. "No, no," said Fernand, restraining him, "stay! It is of very little consequence to me at the end of the matter whether you have any angry feeling or not against Dantes. I hate him! I confess it openly. Do you find the means, I will execute it, provided it is not to kill the man, for Mercedes has declared she will kill herself if Dantes is killed." Caderousse, who had let his head drop on the table, now raised it, and looking at Fernand with his dull and fishy eyes, he said,--"Kill Dantes! who talks of killing Dantes? I won't have him killed--I won't! He's my friend, and this morning offered to share his money with me, as I shared mine with him. I won't have Dantes killed--I won't!" "And who has said a word about killing him, muddlehead?" replied Danglars. "We were merely joking; drink to his health," he added, filling Caderousse's glass, "and do not interfere with us." "Yes, yes, Dantes' good health!" said Caderousse, emptying his glass, "here's to his health! his health--hurrah!" "But the means--the means?" said Fernand.

"Have you not hit upon any?" asked Danglars.

"No!--you undertook to do so." « Non ! , vous avez entrepris de faire ainsi. "True," replied Danglars; "the French have the superiority over the Spaniards, that the Spaniards ruminate, while the French invent." "Do you invent, then," said Fernand impatiently. "Waiter," said Danglars, "pen, ink, and paper." "Pen, ink, and paper," muttered Fernand. "Yes; I am a supercargo; pen, ink, and paper are my tools, and without my tools I am fit for nothing." "Pen, ink, and paper, then," called Fernand loudly. "There's what you want on that table," said the waiter. "Bring them here." The waiter did as he was desired.

"When one thinks," said Caderousse, letting his hand drop on the paper, "there is here wherewithal to kill a man more sure than if we waited at the corner of a wood to assassinate him! — Quand on pense, dit Caderousse en laissant tomber sa main sur le papier, il y a là de quoi tuer un homme plus sûr que si on attendait au coin d'un bois pour l'assassiner ! I have always had more dread of a pen, a bottle of ink, and a sheet of paper, than of a sword or pistol." "The fellow is not so drunk as he appears to be," said Danglars. "Give him some more wine, Fernand." Fernand filled Caderousse's glass, who, like the confirmed toper he was, lifted his hand from the paper and seized the glass. Fernand remplit le verre de Caderousse qui, comme le toper confirmé qu'il était, leva la main du papier et saisit le verre. The Catalan watched him until Caderousse, almost overcome by this fresh assault on his senses, rested, or rather dropped, his glass upon the table. Le Catalan le regarda jusqu'à ce que Caderousse, presque terrassé par ce nouvel assaut contre ses sens, posa ou plutôt laissa tomber son verre sur la table.

"Well!" resumed the Catalan, as he saw the final glimmer of Caderousse's reason vanishing before the last glass of wine. "Well, then, I should say, for instance," resumed Danglars, "that if after a voyage such as Dantes has just made, in which he touched at the Island of Elba, some one were to denounce him to the king's procureur as a Bonapartist agent"-- "I will denounce him!" exclaimed the young man hastily.

"Yes, but they will make you then sign your declaration, and confront you with him you have denounced; I will supply you with the means of supporting your accusation, for I know the fact well. "Oui, mais ils te feront alors signer ta déclaration, et te confronter à celui que tu as dénoncé; je te fournirai les moyens d'appuyer ton accusation, car je sais bien le fait. But Dantes cannot remain forever in prison, and one day or other he will leave it, and the day when he comes out, woe betide him who was the cause of his incarceration!" Mais Dantès ne peut pas rester éternellement en prison, et un jour ou l'autre il en sortira, et le jour où il en sortira, malheur à celui qui fut la cause de son incarcération !"