presence of seeking for the papers of the dead man. But the inheritance
consisted in this only, a scrap of paper on which Spada had written:--'I
bequeath to my beloved nephew my coffers, my books, and, amongst others,
my breviary with the gold corners, which I beg he will preserve in
remembrance of his affectionate uncle.'
"The heirs sought everywhere, admired the breviary, laid hands on the
furniture, and were greatly astonished that Spada, the rich man, was
really the most miserable of uncles--no treasures--unless they were
those of science, contained in the library and laboratories. That was
all. Caesar and his father searched, examined, scrutinized, but found
nothing, or at least very little; not exceeding a few thousand crowns in
plate, and about the same in ready money; but the nephew had time to say
to his wife before he expired: 'Look well among my uncle's papers; there
is a will.'
"They sought even more thoroughly than the august heirs had done, but it
was fruitless. There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the Palatine
Hill; but in these days landed property had not much value, and the two
palaces and the vineyard remained to the family since they were beneath
the rapacity of the pope and his son. Months and years rolled on.
Alexander VI. died, poisoned,--you know by what mistake. Caesar,
poisoned at the same time, escaped by shedding his skin like a snake;
but the new skin was spotted by the poison till it looked like a
tiger's. Then, compelled to quit Rome, he went and got himself obscurely
killed in a night skirmish, scarcely noticed in history. After the
pope's death and his son's exile, it was supposed that the Spada family
would resume the splendid position they had held before the cardinal's
time; but this was not the case. The Spadas remained in doubtful ease,
a mystery hung over this dark affair, and the public rumor was, that
Caesar, a better politician than his father, had carried off from the
pope the fortune of the two cardinals. I say the two, because Cardinal
Rospigliosi, who had not taken any precaution, was completely despoiled.
"Up to this point," said Faria, interrupting the thread of his
narrative, "this seems to you very meaningless, no doubt, eh?"
"Oh, my friend," cried Dantes, "on the contrary, it seems as if I were
reading a most interesting narrative; go on, I beg of you."
"I will."
"The family began to get accustomed to their obscurity. Years rolled
on, and amongst the descendants some were soldiers, others diplomatists;
some churchmen, some bankers; some grew rich, and some were ruined. I
come now to the last of the family, whose secretary I was--the Count of
Spada. I had often heard him complain of the disproportion of his rank
with his fortune; and I advised him to invest all he had in an annuity.
He did so, and thus doubled his income. The celebrated breviary remained
in the family, and was in the count's possession. It had been handed
down from father to son; for the singular clause of the only will
that had been found, had caused it to be regarded as a genuine relic,
preserved in the family with superstitious veneration. It was an
illuminated book, with beautiful Gothic characters, and so weighty with
gold, that a servant always carried it before the cardinal on days of
great solemnity.
"At the sight of papers of all sorts,--titles, contracts, parchments,
which were kept in the archives of the family, all descending from
the poisoned cardinal, I in my turn examined the immense bundles of
documents, like twenty servitors, stewards, secretaries before me; but
in spite of the most exhaustive researches, I found--nothing. Yet I had
read, I had even written a precise history of the Borgia family, for
the sole purpose of assuring myself whether any increase of fortune had
occurred to them on the death of the Cardinal Caesar Spada; but could
only trace the acquisition of the property of the Cardinal Rospigliosi,
his companion in misfortune.
"I was then almost assured that the inheritance had neither profited the
Borgias nor the family, but had remained unpossessed like the treasures
of the Arabian Nights, which slept in the bosom of the earth under the
eyes of the genie. I searched, ransacked, counted, calculated a thousand
and a thousand times the income and expenditure of the family for three
hundred years. It was useless. I remained in my ignorance, and the
Count of Spada in his poverty. My patron died. He had reserved from
his annuity his family papers, his library, composed of five thousand
volumes, and his famous breviary. All these he bequeathed to me, with a
thousand Roman crowns, which he had in ready money, on condition that I
would have anniversary masses said for the repose of his soul, and that
I would draw up a genealogical tree and history of his house. All this I
did scrupulously. Be easy, my dear Edmond, we are near the conclusion.
"In 1807, a month before I was arrested, and a fortnight after the death
of the Count of Spada, on the 25th of December (you will see presently
how the date became fixed in my memory), I was reading, for the
thousandth time, the papers I was arranging, for the palace was sold
to a stranger, and I was going to leave Rome and settle at Florence,
intending to take with me twelve thousand francs I possessed, my
library, and the famous breviary, when, tired with my constant labor
at the same thing, and overcome by a heavy dinner I had eaten, my
head dropped on my hands, and I fell asleep about three o'clock in the
afternoon. I awoke as the clock was striking six. I raised my head;
I was in utter darkness. I rang for a light, but as no one came, I
determined to find one for myself. It was indeed but anticipating the
simple manners which I should soon be under the necessity of adopting.
I took a wax-candle in one hand, and with the other groped about for a
piece of paper (my match-box being empty), with which I proposed to
get a light from the small flame still playing on the embers. Fearing,
however, to make use of any valuable piece of paper, I hesitated for a
moment, then recollected that I had seen in the famous breviary, which
was on the table beside me, an old paper quite yellow with age, and
which had served as a marker for centuries, kept there by the request of
the heirs. I felt for it, found it, twisted it up together, and putting
it into the expiring flame, set light to it.
"But beneath my fingers, as if by magic, in proportion as the fire
ascended, I saw yellowish characters appear on the paper. I grasped it
in my hand, put out the flame as quickly as I could, lighted my taper
in the fire itself, and opened the crumpled paper with inexpressible
emotion, recognizing, when I had done so, that these characters had been
traced in mysterious and sympathetic ink, only appearing when exposed to
the fire; nearly one-third of the paper had been consumed by the flame.
It was that paper you read this morning; read it again, Dantes, and then
I will complete for you the incomplete words and unconnected sense."
Faria, with an air of triumph, offered the paper to Dantes, who this
time read the following words, traced with an ink of a reddish color
resembling rust:--
"This 25th day of April, 1498, be...
Alexander VI., and fearing that not...
he may desire to become my heir, and re...
and Bentivoglio, who were poisoned,...
my sole heir, that I have bu...
and has visited with me, that is, in...
Island of Monte Cristo, all I poss...
jewels, diamonds, gems; that I alone...
may amount to nearly two mil...
will find on raising the twentieth ro...
creek to the east in a right line. Two open...
in these caves; the treasure is in the furthest a...
which treasure I bequeath and leave en...
as my sole heir.
"25th April, 1498.
"Caes...
"And now," said the abbe, "read this other paper;" and he presented to
Dantes a second leaf with fragments of lines written on it, which Edmond
read as follows:--
"...ing invited to dine by his Holiness
...content with making me pay for my hat,
...serves for me the fate of Cardinals Caprara
...I declare to my nephew, Guido Spada
...ried in a place he knows
...the caves of the small
...essed of ingots, gold, money,
...know of the existence of this treasure, which
...lions of Roman crowns, and which he
...ck from the small
...ings have been made
...ngle in the second;
...tire to him
...ar Spada."
Faria followed him with an excited look, "and now," he said, when he saw
that Dantes had read the last line, "put the two fragments together, and
judge for yourself." Dantes obeyed, and the conjointed pieces gave the
following:--
"This 25th day of April, 1498, be...ing invited to dine by his Holiness
Alexander VI., and fearing that not...content with making me pay for my
hat, he may desire to become my heir, and re...serves for me the fate of
Cardinals Caprara and Bentivoglio, who were poisoned...I declare to my
nephew, Guido Spada, my sole heir, that I have bu...ried in a place
he knows and has visited with me, that is, in...the caves of the small
Island of Monte Cristo all I poss...ssed of ingots, gold, money, jewels,
diamonds, gems; that I alone...know of the existence of this treasure,
which may amount to nearly two mil...lions of Roman crowns, and which he
will find on raising the twentieth ro...ck from the small creek to the
east in a right line. Two open...ings have been made in these caves;
the treasure is in the furthest a...ngle in the second; which treasure I
bequeath and leave en...tire to him as my sole heir. "25th April, 1498.
"Caes...ar Spada."
"Well, do you comprehend now?" inquired Faria.
"It is the declaration of Cardinal Spada, and the will so long sought
for," replied Edmond, still incredulous.
"Yes; a thousand times, yes!"
"And who completed it as it now is?"
"I did. Aided by the remaining fragment, I guessed the rest; measuring
the length of the lines by those of the paper, and divining the hidden
meaning by means of what was in part revealed, as we are guided in a
cavern by the small ray of light above us."
"And what did you do when you arrived at this conclusion?"
"I resolved to set out, and did set out at that very instant, carrying
with me the beginning of my great work, the unity of the Italian
kingdom; but for some time the imperial police (who at this period,
quite contrary to what Napoleon desired so soon as he had a son born to
him, wished for a partition of provinces) had their eyes on me; and my
hasty departure, the cause of which they were unable to guess, having
aroused their suspicions, I was arrested at the very moment I was
leaving Piombino.
"Now," continued Faria, addressing Dantes with an almost paternal
expression, "now, my dear fellow, you know as much as I do myself. If
we ever escape together, half this treasure is yours; if I die here, and
you escape alone, the whole belongs to you."
"But," inquired Dantes hesitating, "has this treasure no more legitimate
possessor in the world than ourselves?"
"No, no, be easy on that score; the family is extinct. The last Count
of Spada, moreover, made me his heir, bequeathing to me this symbolic
breviary, he bequeathed to me all it contained; no, no, make your mind
satisfied on that point. If we lay hands on this fortune, we may enjoy
it without remorse."
"And you say this treasure amounts to"--
"Two millions of Roman crowns; nearly thirteen millions of our
money." [*]
* $2,600,000 in 1894.
"Impossible!" said Dantes, staggered at the enormous amount.
"Impossible? and why?" asked the old man. "The Spada family was one of
the oldest and most powerful families of the fifteenth century; and in
those times, when other opportunities for investment were wanting, such
accumulations of gold and jewels were by no means rare; there are at
this day Roman families perishing of hunger, though possessed of nearly
a million in diamonds and jewels, handed down by entail, and which they
cannot touch." Edmond thought he was in a dream--he wavered between
incredulity and joy.
"I have only kept this secret so long from you," continued Faria, "that
I might test your character, and then surprise you. Had we escaped
before my attack of catalepsy, I should have conducted you to Monte
Cristo; now," he added, with a sigh, "it is you who will conduct me
thither. Well, Dantes, you do not thank me?"
"This treasure belongs to you, my dear friend," replied Dantes, "and to
you only. I have no right to it. I am no relation of yours."
"You are my son, Dantes," exclaimed the old man. "You are the child of
my captivity. My profession condemns me to celibacy. God has sent you
to me to console, at one and the same time, the man who could not be a
father, and the prisoner who could not get free." And Faria extended the
arm of which alone the use remained to him to the young man who threw
himself upon his neck and wept.
Chapter 19. The Third Attack.
Now that this treasure, which had so long been the object of the abbe's
meditations, could insure the future happiness of him whom Faria really
loved as a son, it had doubled its value in his eyes, and every day he
expatiated on the amount, explaining to Dantes all the good which, with
thirteen or fourteen millions of francs, a man could do in these days to
his friends; and then Dantes' countenance became gloomy, for the oath of
