And what did you do with the child?

　　"Ah," said Monte Cristo "it seems to me this was nothing butmurder and robbery."

　　"No, your excellency," returned Bertuccio; "it was avendetta followed by restitution."

　　"And was the sum a large one?"

　　"It was not money."

　　"Ah, I recollect," replied the count; "did you not saysomething of an infant?"

　　"Yes, excellency; I hastened to the river, sat down on thebank, and with my knife forced open the lock of the box. Ina fine linen cloth was wrapped a new-born child. Its purplevisage, and its violet-colored hands showed that it hadperished from suffocation, but as it was not yet cold, Ihesitated to throw it into the water that ran at my feet.After a moment I fancied that I felt a slight pulsation ofthe heart, and as I had been assistant at the hospital atBastia, I did what a doctor would have done -- I inflatedthe lungs by blowing air into them, and at the expiration ofa quarter of an hour, it began to breathe, and cried feebly.In my turn I uttered a cry, but a cry of joy. `God has notcursed me then,' I cried, `since he permits me to save thelife of a human creature, in exchange for the life I havetaken away.'"

　　"And what did you do with the child?" asked Monte Cristo."It was an embarrassing load for a man seeking to escape."

　　"I had not for a moment the idea of keeping it, but I knewthat at Paris there was an asylum where they receive suchcreatures. As I passed the city gates I declared that I hadfound the child on the road, and I inquired where the asylumwas; the box confirmed my statement, the linen proved thatthe infant belonged to wealthy parents, the blood with whichI was covered might have proceeded from the child as well asfrom any one else. No objection was raised, but they pointedout the asylum, which was situated at the upper end of theRue d'Enfer, and after having taken the precaution ofcutting the linen in two pieces, so that one of the twoletters which marked it was on the piece wrapped around thechild, while the other remained in my possession, I rang thebell, and fled with all speed. A fortnight after I was atRogliano, and I said to Assunta, -- `Console thyself,sister; Israel is dead, but he is avenged.' She demandedwhat I meant, and when I had told her all, -- `Giovanni,'said she, `you should have brought this child with you; wewould have replaced the parents it has lost, have called itBenedetto, and then, in consequence of this good action, Godwould have blessed us.' In reply I gave her the half of thelinen I had kept in order to reclaim him if we became rich."

　　"What letters were marked on the linen?" said Monte Cristo.

　　"An H and an N, surmounted by a baron's coronet."

　　"By heaven, M. Bertuccio, you make use of heraldic terms;where did you study heraldry?"