020 - The Count of Monte Cristo - The Cemetry of the Chateau D'If

Episode Transcript

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Chapter twenty of The Count of MonteCristo by Alexandro Duma. This LibriVox recording
is in the public domain. Chaptertwenty, the Cemetery of the Chateau d'If
On the bed, at full lengthand faintly illuminated by the pale light that
came from the window, lay asack of canvas, and under its rude

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folds was stretched a long and stiffenedform. It was Faria's last winding sheet,
a winding sheet which, as theturnkey said, cost so little.
Everything was in readiness. A barrierhad been placed between Dante and his old
friend. No longer could Edmond lookinto those wide open eyes which had seemed

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to be penetrating the mysteries of death. No longer could he clasp the hand
which had done so much to makehis existence blessed Faria, the beneficent and
cheerful companion with whom he was accustomedto live so intimately. No longer breathed,
He seated him on the edge ofthat terrible bed, and fell into
melancholy and gloomy revery. Alone.He was alone again, again, condemned

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to silence, again, face toface with nothingness. Alone, never again
to see the face, never againto hear the voice of the only human
being who united him to earth.Was not Paria's fate. The better after
all, to solve the problem oflife at its source, even at the
risk of horrible suffering. The ideaof suicide, which his friend had driven

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away and kept away by his cheerfulpresence, now hovered like a phantom over
the Abbe's dead body. If Icould die, he said, I should
go where he goes, and shouldassuredly find him again. But how to
die? It is very easy,he went on with a smile. I
will remain here, rush on thefirst person that opens the door, strangle

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him, and then they will guillotineme. But excessive grief is like a
storm at sea, where the frailbark is tossed from the depths to the
top of the wave. Dantes recoiledfrom the idea of so infamous a death
and passed suddenly from despair to anardent desire for life and liberty. Die.
Oh no, he exclaimed, notdie now, after having lived and

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suffered so long and so much.Die. Yes, had I died years
ago, But now to die wouldbe indeed to give away to the sarcasm
of destiny. No, I wantto live. I shall struggle to the
very last. I will yet winback the happiness of which I have been
deprived. Before I die. Imust not forget that I have my executioners

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to punish, and perhaps too,who know some friends to reward. Yet
they will forget me here, andI shall die in my dungeon like Faria.
As he said this, he becamesilent and gazed straight before him,
like one overwhelmed with a strange andamazing thought. Suddenly he arose, lifted
his hand to his brow as ifhis brain were giddy, paced twice or

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thrice round the dungeon, and thenpaused abruptly by the bed. Just God,
he muttered, whence comes this thought? Is it from thee? Since
none but the dead pass freely fromthis dungeon, let me take the place
of the dead. Without giving himselftime to reconsider his decision, and indeed,

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that he might not allow his thoughtsto be distracted from his desperate resolution,
he bent over the appalling shroud,opened it with the knife which Faria
had made, drew the corpse fromthe sack, and bore it along the
tunnel to his own chamber, laidit on his couch, tied around its
head the rag he wore at nightaround his own, covered it with his

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counterpane, once again kissed the icecold brow, and tried vainly to close
the resisting eyes, which led horriblyturned the head towards the wall, so
that the jailer might, when hebrought the evening meal, believe that he
was asleep, as was his frequentcustom, entered the tunnel again, drew
the bed against the wall, returnedto the other cell, took from the

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hiding place the needle and thread,flung off his rags that they might feel
only naked flesh beneath the coarse canvas, and getting inside the sack, placed
himself in the posture in which thedead body had been laid, and sewed
up the mouth of the sack.From the inside. He would have been
discovered by the beating of his heartif, by enemy's chance, the jailers

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had entered at that moment. Dantesmight have waited until the evening visit was
over, but he was afraid thatthe governor would change his mind and order
the dead body to be removed earlier. In that case, his last hope
would have been destroyed. Now hisplans were fully made, and this is
what he intended to do. Ifwhile he was being carried out, the

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grave diggers should discover that they werebearing alive instead of a dead body,
Dantes did not intend to give themtime to recognize him, But with a
sudden cut of the knife, hemeant to open the sack from top to
bottom, and, profiting by theiralarm, escape. If they tried to
catch him, he would use hisknife to better purpose. If they took

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him to the cemetery and laid himin a grave, he would allow himself
to be covered with earth, andthen, as it was night, the
grave diggers could scarcely have turned theirbacks before he would have worked his way
through the yielding soil and escaped.He hoped that the weight of earth would
not be so great that he couldnot overcome it. If he was detected

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in this and the earth proved tooheavy, he would be stifled, and
then so much the better all wouldbe over. Dantes had not eaten since
the preceding evening, but he hadnot thought of hunger, nor did he
think of it now. His situationwas too precarious to allow him even time
to reflect on any thing but one. The first risk that Dante ran was

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that the jailer, when he broughthim his supper at seven o'clock, might
perceive the change that had been made. Fortunately, twenty times at least from
misanthropy or fatigue, Dantes had receivedhis jailer in bed, and then the
man placed his bread and soup onthe table and went away without saying a
word. This time the jailer mightnot be as silent as usual, but

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speak to Dantes, and, seeingthat he received no reply, go to
the bed, and thus discover all. When seven o'clock came, dantes agony
really began. His hand placed uponhis heart, was unable to redress its
throbbings, while with the other hewiped the perspiration from his temples. From
time to time chills ran through hiswhole body, and clutched his heart in

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a grasp of ice. Then hethought he was going to die. Yet
the hours passed on without any unusualdisturbance, and Dantes knew that he had
escaped the first peril. It wasa good augury. At length, about
the hour the governor had appointed,footsteps were heard on the stairs. Edmond

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felt that the moment had arrived,summoned up all his courage, held his
breath, and would have been happyif at the same time he could have
repressed the throbbing of his veins.The footsteps they were double paused at the
door, and Dante guessed that thetwo grave diggers had come to seek him.
This idea was soon converted into certaintywhen he heard the noise they made

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in putting down the handbeer. Thedoor opened, and the dim light reached
dantes eyes through the coarse sack thatcovered him. He saw two shadows approach
his bed, a third remaining atthe door with a torch in its hand.
The two men, approaching the endsof the bed, took the sack
by its extremities. He's heavy enough, Oh for an old seen man,

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said one, as he raised thehead. This every year, I'd half
a pound to the weight of thebones, said another, lifting the feet,
Have you tied the nut? Inquiredthe first speaker. What would be
the use of carrying so much moreweight? Was the reply, I can
do that when we get there.Yes, you're right, replied the companion.

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What's the knut? For? ThoughtDantes. They deposited the supposed corpse
on the bier. Edmond stiffened himselfin order to play the part of a
dead man, and then the party, lighted by the man with the torch,
who went first, ascended the stairs. Suddenly he felt the fresh and
sharp night air, and Dantes knewthat the mistral was blowing. It was

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a sensation in which pleasure and painwere strangely mingled. The bearers went on
for twenty paces, then stopped,putting the bier down on the ground.
One of them went away, andDantes heard his shoes striking on the pavement.
Where am I? He asked himself. Really he is, by no

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means a light load, said theother bearer, sitting on the edge of
the handbarrow. Dantes first impulse wasto escape, but fortunately he did not
attempt it. Give us a light, said the other bearer, for I
should never find what I am lookingfor. The man with the torch complied,
although not asked in the most politeterms, what can he be looking

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for? Thought Edmond. The spade, perhaps an exclamation of satisfaction, indicated
that the grave digger had found theobject of his search. Here it is,
at last, he said, notwithout some trouble, law. Yes,
was the answer, but it haslost nothing by waiting. As he

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said this, the man came towardsEdmond, who heard a heavy metallic substance,
laid down beside him, and atthe same moment a cord was fastened
around his feet with sudden and painfulviolence. Well have you tied the nut,
cried the grave digger, who waslooking on. Yes, and pretty
tight too, I can tell you, was the answer. Move on then,

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and the bier was lifted once more, and they proceeded. They advanced
fifty paces farther, and then stoppedto open a door, then went forward
again. The noise of the wavesdashing against the rocks on which the chateau
is built reached Dantes ear distinctly.As they went forward, bad weather,
observed one of the bearers. Nota pleasant night for a dip in the

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sea. Why, yes, theabbe runs a chance of being wet,
said the other, and then therewas a burst of brutal laughter. Dantes
did not comprehend the jest, buthis hair stood erect on his head.
Well here we are at last,said one of them. A little farther.

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A little farther, said the other. You know very well that the
last was stopped on his way,dashed on the road, and the governor
told us next day that we werecareless fellows. They ascended five or six
more steps, and then Dantes feltthat they took him, one by the
head and the other by the heels, and swung him to and fro.

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One said the grave diggers, twothree, And at the same instant Dantes
felt himself flung into the air,like a wounded bird falling, falling with
a rapidity that made his blood curdle. Although drawn downwards by the heavy weight
which hastened his rapid descent, itseemed to him as if the fall lasted
for a century. At last,with a horrible splash, he darted like

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an arrow into the ice cold water, and as he did so, he
uttered a shrill cry, stifled ina moment by his immersion beneath the waves.
Dantes had been flung into the sea, and was dragged into its depths
by a thirty six pound shot tiedto his feet. The sea is the
cemetery of the Chateau d'If end ofchapter twenty