"My child," Monte Cristo said, coloring slightly, "let me take back that purse. Since you now know my face, I'd prefer to be remembered only through the affection I hope you'll grant me."
"Oh no!" Julie pressed the purse to her heart. "Please don't take it! Some unhappy day you'll leave us, won't you?"
"You've guessed correctly, madame," Monte Cristo replied with a smile. "In a week, I'll have left this country where so many people who deserve heaven's vengeance live happily, while my father died of hunger and grief."
While announcing his departure, the count fixed his eyes on Morrel and noticed that the words "I'll have left this country" had failed to rouse him from his daze. He realized he'd have to make another effort to fight his friend's despair.
Taking Emmanuel and Julie's hands and pressing them within his own, he said with the gentle authority of a father, "My kind friends, leave me alone with Maximilian."
