In the house in the Rue du Helder, where Albert had invitedthe Count of Monte Cristo, everything was being prepared onthe morning of the 21st of May to do honor to the occasion.Albert de Morcerf inhabited a pavilion situated at thecorner of a large court, and directly opposite anotherbuilding, in which were the servants' apartments. Twowindows only of the pavilion faced the street; three otherwindows looked into the court, and two at the back into thegarden. Between the court and the garden, built in the heavystyle of the imperial architecture, was the large andfashionable dwelling of the Count and Countess of Morcerf. Ahigh wall surrounded the whole of the hotel, surmounted atintervals by vases filled with flowers, and broken in thecentre by a large gate of gilded iron, which served as thecarriage entrance. A small door, close to the lodge of theconcierge, gave ingress and egress to the servants andmasters when they were on foot.

It was easy to discover that the delicate care of a mother,unwilling to part from her son, and yet aware that a youngman of the viscount's age required the full exercise of hisliberty, had chosen this habitation for Albert. There werenot lacking, however, evidences of what we may call theintelligent egoism of a youth who is charmed with theindolent, careless life of an only son, and who lives as itwere in a gilded cage. By means of the two windows lookinginto the street, Albert could see all that passed; the sightof what is going on is necessary to young men, who alwayswant to see the world traverse their horizon, even if thathorizon is only a public thoroughfare. Then, should anythingappear to merit a more minute examination, Albert de Morcerfcould follow up his researches by means of a small gate,similar to that close to the concierge's door, and whichmerits a particular description. It was a little entrancethat seemed never to have been opened since the house wasbuilt, so entirely was it covered with dust and dirt; butthe well-oiled hinges and locks told quite another story.This door was a mockery to the concierge, from whosevigilance and jurisdiction it was free, and, like thatfamous portal in the "Arabian Nights," opening at the"Sesame" of Ali Baba, it was wont to swing backward at acabalistic word or a concerted tap from without from thesweetest voices or whitest fingers in the world. At the endof a long corridor, with which the door communicated, andwhich formed the ante-chamber, was, on the right, Albert'sbreakfast-room, looking into the court, and on the left thesalon, looking into the garden. Shrubs and creeping plantscovered the windows, and hid from the garden and court thesetwo apartments, the only rooms into which, as they were onthe ground-floor, the prying eyes of the curious couldpenetrate. On the floor above were similar rooms, with theaddition of a third, formed out of the ante-chamber; thesethree rooms were a salon, a boudoir, and a bedroom. Thesalon down-stairs was only an Algerian divan, for the use ofsmokers. The boudoir up-stairs communicated with thebed-chamber by an invisible door on the staircase; it wasevident that every precaution had been taken. Above thisfloor was a large atelier, which had been increased in sizeby pulling down the partitions - a pandemonium, in whichthe artist and the dandy strove for preeminence. There werecollected and piled up all Albert's successive caprices,hunting-horns, bass-viols, flutes - a whole orchestra, forAlbert had had not a taste but a fancy for music; easels,palettes, brushes, pencils - for music had been succeededby painting; foils, boxing-gloves, broadswords, andsingle-sticks - for, following the example of thefashionable young men of the time, Albert de Morcerfcultivated, with far more perseverance than music anddrawing, the three arts that complete a dandy's education,i.e., fencing, boxing, and single-stick; and it was herethat he received Grisier, Cook, and Charles Leboucher. Therest of the furniture of this privileged apartment consistedof old cabinets, filled with Chinese porcelain and Japanesevases, Lucca della Robbia faience, and Palissy platters; ofold arm-chairs, in which perhaps had sat Henry IV. or Sully,Louis XIII. or Richelieu - for two of these arm-chairs,adorned with a carved shield, on which were engraved thefleur-de-lis of France on an azure field evidently came fromthe Louvre, or, at least, some royal residence. Over thesedark and sombre chairs were thrown splendid stuffs, dyedbeneath Persia's sun, or woven by the fingers of the womenof Calcutta or of Chandernagor. What these stuffs did there,it was impossible to say; they awaited, while gratifying theeyes, a destination unknown to their owner himself; in themeantime they filled the place with their golden and silkyreflections. In the centre of the room was a Roller andBlanchet "baby grand" piano in rosewood, but holding thepotentialities of an orchestra in its narrow and sonorouscavity, and groaning beneath the weight of thechefs-d'oeuvre of Beethoven, Weber, Mozart, Haydn, Gretry,and Porpora. On the walls, over the doors, on the ceiling,were swords, daggers, Malay creeses, maces, battle-axes;gilded, damasked, and inlaid suits of armor; dried plants,minerals, and stuffed birds, their flame-colored wingsoutspread in motionless flight, and their beaks foreveropen. This was Albert's favorite lounging place.

However, the morning of the appointment, the young man hadestablished himself in the small salon down-stairs. There,on a table, surrounded at some distance by a large andluxurious divan, every species of tobacco known, - from theyellow tobacco of Petersburg to the black of Sinai, and soon along the scale from Maryland and Porto-Rico, to Latakia,- was exposed in pots of crackled earthenware of which theDutch are so fond; beside them, in boxes of fragrant wood,were ranged, according to their size and quality, pueros,regalias, havanas, and manillas; and, in an open cabinet, acollection of German pipes, of chibouques, with their ambermouth-pieces ornamented with coral, and of narghiles, withtheir long tubes of morocco, awaiting the caprice or thesympathy of the smokers. Albert had himself presided at thearrangement, or, rather, the symmetrical derangement, which,after coffee, the guests at a breakfast of modern days loveto contemplate through the vapor that escapes from theirmouths, and ascends in long and fanciful wreaths to theceiling. At a quarter to ten, a valet entered; he composed,with a little groom named John, and who only spoke English,all Albert's establishment, although the cook of the hotelwas always at his service, and on great occasions thecount's chasseur also. This valet, whose name was Germain,and who enjoyed the entire confidence of his young master,held in one hand a number of papers, and in the other apacket of letters, which he gave to Albert. Albert glancedcarelessly at the different missives, selected two writtenin a small and delicate hand, and enclosed in scentedenvelopes, opened them and perused their contents with someattention. "How did these letters come?" said he.

"One by the post, Madame Danglars' footman left the other."

"Let Madame Danglars know that I accept the place she offersme in her box. Wait; then, during the day, tell Rosa thatwhen I leave the Opera I will sup with her as she wishes.Take her six bottles of different wine - Cyprus, sherry,and Malaga, and a barrel of Ostend oysters; get them atBorel's, and be sure you say they are for me."

"At what o'clock, sir, do you breakfast?"

"What time is it now?"

"A quarter to ten."

"Very well, at half past ten. Debray will, perhaps, beobliged to go to the minister - and besides" (Albert lookedat his tablets), "it is the hour I told the count, 21st May,at half past ten; and though I do not much rely upon hispromise, I wish to be punctual. Is the countess up yet?"

"If you wish, I will inquire."

"Yes, ask her for one of her liqueur cellarets, mine isincomplete; and tell her I shall have the honor of seeingher about three o'clock, and that I request permission tointroduce some one to her." The valet left the room. Albertthrew himself on the divan, tore off the cover of two orthree of the papers, looked at the theatre announcements,made a face seeing they gave an opera, and not a ballet;hunted vainly amongst the advertisements for a newtooth-powder of which he had heard, and threw down, oneafter the other, the three leading papers of Paris,muttering, "These papers become more and more stupid everyday." A moment after, a carriage stopped before the door,and the servant announced M. Lucien Debray. A tall youngman, with light hair, clear gray eyes, and thin andcompressed lips, dressed in a blue coat with beautifullycarved gold buttons, a white neckcloth, and a tortoiseshelleye-glass suspended by a silken thread, and which, by aneffort of the superciliary and zygomatic muscles, he fixedin his eye, entered, with a half-official air, withoutsmiling or speaking. "Good-morning, Lucien, good-morning,"said Albert; "your punctuality really alarms me. What do Isay? punctuality! You, whom I expected last, you arrive atfive minutes to ten, when the time fixed was half-past! Hasthe ministry resigned?"

"No, my dear fellow," returned the young man, seatinghimself on the divan; "reassure yourself; we are totteringalways, but we never fall, and I begin to believe that weshall pass into a state of immobility, and then the affairsof the Peninsula will completely consolidate us."

"Ah, true; you drive Don Carlos out of Spain."

"No, no, my dear fellow, do not confound our plans. We takehim to the other side of the French frontier, and offer himhospitality at Bourges."

"At Bourges?"

"Yes, he has not much to complain of; Bourges is the capitalof Charles VII. Do you not know that all Paris knew ityesterday, and the day before it had already transpired onthe Bourse, and M. Danglars (I do not know by what meansthat man contrives to obtain intelligence as soon as we do)made a million!"

"And you another order, for I see you have a blue ribbon atyour button-hole."

"Yes; they sent me the order of Charles III.," returnedDebray, carelessly.

"Come, do not affect indifference, but confess you werepleased to have it."

"Oh, it is very well as a finish to the toilet. It looksvery neat on a black coat buttoned up."

"And makes you resemble the Prince of Wales or the Duke ofReichstadt."

"It is for that reason you see me so early."

"Because you have the order of Charles III., and you wish toannounce the good news to me?"

"No, because I passed the night writing letters, - five andtwenty despatches. I returned home at daybreak, and stroveto sleep; but my head ached and I got up to have a ride foran hour. At the Bois de Boulogne, ennui and hunger attackedme at once, - two enemies who rarely accompany each other,and who are yet leagued against me, a sort ofCarlo-republican alliance. I then recollected you gave abreakfast this morning, and here I am. I am hungry, feed me;I am bored, amuse me."

"It is my duty as your host," returned Albert, ringing thebell, while Lucien turned over, with his gold-mounted cane,the papers that lay on the table. "Germain, a glass ofsherry and a biscuit. In the meantime. my dear Lucien, hereare cigars - contraband, of course - try them, andpersuade the minister to sell us such instead of poisoningus with cabbage leaves."

"Peste, I will do nothing of the kind; the moment they comefrom government you would find them execrable. Besides, thatdoes not concern the home but the financial department.Address yourself to M. Humann, section of the indirectcontributions, corridor A., No. 26."

"On my word," said Albert, "you astonish me by the extent ofyour knowledge. Take a cigar."

"Really, my dear Albert," replied Lucien, lighting a manillaat a rose-colored taper that burnt in a be beautifullyenamelled stand - "how happy you are to have nothing to do.You do not know your own good fortune!"

"And what would you do, my dear diplomatist," repliedMorcerf, with a slight degree of irony in his voice, "if youdid nothing? What? private secretary to a minister, plungedat once into European cabals and Parisian intrigues; havingkings, and, better still, queens, to protect, parties tounite, elections to direct; making more use of your cabinetwith your pen and your telegraph than Napoleon did of hisbattle-fields with his sword and his victories; possessingfive and twenty thousand francs a year, besides your place;a horse, for which Chateau-Renaud offered you four hundredlouis, and which you would not part with; a tailor who neverdisappoints you; with the opera, the jockey-club, and otherdiversions, can you not amuse yourself? Well, I will amuseyou."

"How?"

"By introducing to you a new acquaintance."

"A man or a woman?"

"A man."

"I know so many men already."

"But you do not know this man."

"Where does he come from - the end of the world?"

"Farther still, perhaps."

"The deuce! I hope he does not bring our breakfast withhim."

"Oh, no; our breakfast comes from my father's kitchen. Areyou hungry?"

"Humiliating as such a confession is, I am. But I dined atM. de Villefort's, and lawyers always give you very baddinners. You would think they felt some remorse; did youever remark that?"

"Ah, depreciate other persons' dinners; you ministers givesuch splendid ones."

"Yes; but we do not invite people of fashion. If we were notforced to entertain a parcel of country boobies because theythink and vote with us, we should never dream of dining athome, I assure you."

"Well, take another glass of sherry and another biscuit."

"Willingly. Your Spanish wine is excellent. You see we werequite right to pacify that country."

"Yes; but Don Carlos?"

"Well, Don Carlos will drink Bordeaux, and in ten years wewill marry his son to the little queen."

"You will then obtain the Golden Fleece, if you are still inthe ministry."

"I think, Albert, you have adopted the system of feeding meon smoke this morning."

"Well, you must allow it is the best thing for the stomach;but I hear Beauchamp in the next room; you can disputetogether, and that will pass away the time."

"About what?"

"About the papers."

"My dear friend," said Lucien with an air of sovereigncontempt, "do I ever read the papers?"

"Then you will dispute the more."

"M. Beauchamp," announced the servant. "Come in, come in,"said Albert, rising and advancing to meet the young man."Here is Debray, who detests you without reading you, so hesays."

"He is quite right," returned Beauchamp; "for I criticisehim without knowing what he does. Good-day, commander!"

"Ah, you know that already," said the private secretary,smiling and shaking hands with him.

"Pardieu?"

"And what do they say of it in the world?"

"In which world? we have so many worlds in the year of grace1838."

"In the entire political world, of which you are one of theleaders."

"They say that it is quite fair, and that sowing so muchred, you ought to reap a little blue."

"Come, come, that is not bad!" said Lucien. "Why do you notjoin our party, my dear Beauchamp? With your talents youwould make your fortune in three or four years."

"I only await one thing before following your advice; thatis, a minister who will hold office for six months. My dearAlbert, one word, for I must give poor Lucien a respite. Dowe breakfast or dine? I must go to the Chamber, for our lifeis not an idle one."

"You only breakfast; I await two persons, and the instantthey arrive we shall sit down to table."