"Alas, sir, I never had any opinions.

I am hardly nineteen; I know nothing; I have no part to play.
If I obtain the situation I desire, I shall owe it to M.Morrel.

Thus all my opinions--I will not say public, but private--are confined to these three sentiments,--I love my father, I respect M.Morrel, and I adore Mercedes.

This, sir, is all I can tell you, and you see how uninteresting it is." As Dantes spoke, Villefort gazed at his ingenuous and open countenance, and recollected the words of Renee, who, without knowing who the culprit was, had besought his indulgence for him.

With the deputy's knowledge of crime and criminals, every word the young man uttered convinced him more and more of his innocence.