“The Count of Monte Cristo, I believe?” said he.
“Yes, sir, and I think I have the honor of addressing Count Andrea Cavalcanti?”
“Count Andrea Cavalcanti,” repeated the young man, accompanying his words with a bow.
“You are charged with a letter of introduction addressed to me, are you not?” said the count.
“I did not mention that, because the signature seemed to me so strange.”
“The letter signed ‘Sinbad the Sailor,’ is it not?”
“Exactly so. Now, as I have never known any Sinbad, with the exception of the one celebrated in the Thousand and One Nights——”
“Well, it is one of his descendants, and a great friend of mine; he is a very rich Englishman, eccentric almost to insanity, and his real name is Lord Wilmore.”
“Ah, indeed? Then that explains everything that is extraordinary,” said Andrea. “He is, then, the same Englishman whom I met—at—ah—yes, indeed. Well, monsieur, I am at your service.”
“If what you say be true,” replied the count, smiling, “perhaps you will be kind enough to give me some account of yourself and your family?”
“Certainly, I will do so,” said the young man, with a quickness which gave proof of his ready invention. “I am (as you have said) the Count Andrea Cavalcanti, son of Major Bartolomeo Cavalcanti, a descendant of the Cavalcanti whose names are inscribed in the golden book at Florence. Our family, although still rich (for my father’s income amounts to half a million), has experienced many misfortunes, and I myself was, at the age of five years, taken away by the treachery of my tutor, so that for fifteen years I have not seen the author of my existence. Since I have arrived at years of discretion and become my own master, I have been constantly seeking him, but all in vain. At length I received this letter from your friend, which states that my father is in Paris, and authorizes me to address myself to you for information respecting him.”