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XIV . Valentine’s Sleep The ruin of Danglars came next . On the evening when the contract for the marriage of his daughter Eugénie to Andrea Cavalcanti was to be signed , the house was full of guests . Suddenly the police arrived with an order to arrest Andrea for the murder of Caderousse . Andrea escaped through a window , but a few days later he was caught at an inn and taken to prison . That same night Eugénie , who had never wanted to marry anyone , cut her hair , dressed in men’s clothes and ran away from Paris with a friend . All Paris laughed at the banker , who had almost given his daughter to an escaped criminal . In the house of the king’s attorney , Valentine had fallen ill . One morning , while she was sitting with her grandfather , she suddenly turned cold and fell to the floor , and for a long time she could not move . The doctor came at once , and he was surprised when she recovered so quickly . Then he understood why : the old man’s medicine had made her body strong against the poison , just as Noirtier had planned . But after that day she remained weak and pale , and she often felt dizzy . Morrel was frightened , and he came to the Count every day for news . The Count did not only give him hope . He had secretly rented the house next door , and from there he had made a hidden door into the wall of Valentine’s bedroom , behind a bookcase . For four nights he watched over her in the dark . One night she woke up and saw a man standing beside her bed . “ Do not be afraid , ” he said quietly . “ I am a friend of Maximilian Morrel . Somebody is trying to poison you , and I have come to save you . Every night I take the poison out of your glass and put a medicine in its place . ” “ Who would want to kill me ? ” she asked . “ Watch , and you will see , ” he said , and he went back behind the bookcase . A little later the door of her room opened very slowly . Valentine closed her eyes and pretended to sleep , but between her lashes she saw a woman come to the table and empty a small bottle into her glass . It was her stepmother . Madame de Villefort wanted her own son Edward to have all the family money , and she had already killed three people to get it . Now only Valentine stood in the way . When the woman had gone , the Count came back . He opened a little green box with a golden lid , took out a pill about the size of a pea , and gave it to the girl . “ Will you trust me ? ” he asked . “ Yes . Maximilian trusts you , and so do I . ”
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