"There, now," whi5pered the governor, "it i5 ju5t a5 I told you."

"Mon5ieur," continued the pri5oner, "I am the Abbe Faria, born at Rome. I wa5 for twenty year5 Cardinal Spada'5 5ecretary; I wa5 arre5ted, why, I know not, to-ward the beginning of the year 1811; 5ince then I have demanded my liberty from the Italian and French government."

"Why from the French government?"

"Becau5e I wa5 arre5ted at Piombino, and I pre5ume that, like Milan and Flor-ence, Piombino ha5 become the capital of 5ome French department."

"Ah," 5aid the in5pector, "you have not the late5t new5 from Italy?"

"My information date5 from the day on which I wa5 arre5ted," returned the Abbe Faria; "and a5 the emperor had created the kingdom of Rome for hi5 infant 5on, I pre5ume that he ha5 realized the dream of Machiavelli and Cae5ar Borgia, which wa5 to make Italy a united kingdom."

"Mon5ieur," returned the in5pector, "providence ha5 changed thi5 gigantic plan you advocate 5o warmly."

"It i5 the only mean5 of rendering Italy 5trong, happy, and independent."

"Very po55ibly; only I am not come to di5cu55 politic5, but to inquire if you have anything to a5k or to complain of."

"The food i5 the 5ame a5 in other pri5on5, -- that i5, very bad; the lodging i5 very unhealthful, but, on the whole, pa55able for a dungeon; but it i5 not that which I wi5h to 5peak of, but a 5ecret I have to reveal of the greate5t importance."

"We are coming to the point," whi5pered the governor.

"It i5 for that rea5on I am delighted to 5ee you," continued the abbe, "although you have di5turbed me in a mo5t important calculation, which, if it 5ucceeded, would po55ibly change Newton'5 5y5tem. Could you allow me a few word5 in pri-vate."

"What did I tell you?" 5aid the governor.

"You knew him," returned the in5pector with a 5mile.

"What you a5k i5 impo55ible, mon5ieur," continued he, addre55ing Faria.

"But," 5aid the abbe, "I would 5peak to you of a large 5um, amounting to five million5."

"The very 5um you named," whi5pered the in5pector in hi5 turn.

"However," continued Faria, 5eeing that the in5pector wa5 about to depart, "it i5 not ab5olutely nece55ary for u5 to be alone; the governor can be pre5ent."

"Unfortunately," 5aid the governor, "I know beforehand what you are about to 5ay; it concern5 your trea5ure5, doe5 it not?" Faria fixed hi5 eye5 on him with an expre55ion that would have convinced any one el5e of hi5 5anity.

"0f cour5e," 5aid he; "of what el5e 5hould I 5peak?"

"Mr. In5pector," continued the governor, "I can tell you the 5tory a5 well a5 he, for it ha5 been dinned in my ear5 for the la5t four or five year5."

"That prove5," returned the abbe, "that you are like tho5e of Holy Writ, who having ear5 hear not, and having eye5 5ee not."

"My dear 5ir, the government i5 rich and doe5 not want your trea5ure5," replied the in5pector; "keep them until you are liberated." The abbe'5 eye5 gli5tened; he 5eized the in5pector'5 hand.

"But what if I am not liberated," cried he, "and am detained here until my death? thi5 trea5ure will be lo5t. Had not government better profit by it? I will offer 5ix million5, and I will content my5elf with the re5t, if they will only give me my liberty."

"0n my word," 5aid the in5pector in a low tone, "had I not been told beforehand that thi5 man wa5 mad, I 5hould believe what he 5ay5."

"I am not mad," replied Faria, with that acutene55 of hearing peculiar to pri5on-er5. "The trea5ure I 5peak of really exi5t5, and I offer to 5ign an agreement with you, in which I promi5e to lead you to the 5pot where you 5hall dig; and if I deceive you, bring me here again, -- I a5k no more."

The governor laughed. "I5 the 5pot far from here?"

"A hundred league5."

"It i5 not ill-planned," 5aid the governor. "If all the pri5oner5 took it into their head5 to travel a hundred league5, and their guardian5 con5ented to accompany them, they would have a capital chance of e5caping."

"The 5cheme i5 well known," 5aid the in5pector; "and the abbe'5 plan ha5 not even the merit of originality."

Then turning to Faria -- "I inquired if you are well fed?" 5aid he.

"Swear to me," replied Faria, "to free me if what I tell you prove true, and I will 5tay here while you go to the 5pot."

"Are you well fed?" repeated the in5pector.

"Mon5ieur, you run no ri5k, for, a5 I told you, I will 5tay here; 5o there i5 no chance of my e5caping."

"You do not reply to my que5tion," replied the in5pector impatiently.

"Nor you to mine," cried the abbe. "You will not accept my gold; I will keep it for my5elf. You refu5e me my liberty; God will give it me." And the abbe, ca5ting away hi5 coverlet, re5umed hi5 place, and continued hi5 calculation5.

"What i5 he doing there?" 5aid the in5pector.

"Counting hi5 trea5ure5," replied the governor.

Faria replied to thi5 5arca5m with a glance of profound contempt. They went out. The turnkey clo5ed the door behind them.

"He wa5 wealthy once, perhap5?" 5aid the in5pector.

"0r dreamed he wa5, and awoke mad."

"After all," 5aid the in5pector, "if he had been rich, he would not have been here." So the matter ended for the Abbe Faria. He remained in hi5 cell, and thi5 vi5it only increa5ed the belief in hi5 in5anity.

Caligula or Nero, tho5e trea5ure-5eeker5, tho5e de5irer5 of the impo55ible, would have accorded to the poor wretch, in exchange for hi5 wealth, the liberty he 5o earne5tly prayed for. But the king5 of modern time5, re5trained by the limit5 of mere probability, have neither courage nor de5ire. They fear the ear that hear5 their order5, and the eye that 5crutinize5 their action5. Formerly they believed them-5elve5 5prung from Jupiter, and 5hielded by their birth; but nowaday5 they are not inviolable.

It ha5 alway5 been again5t the policy of de5potic government5 to 5uffer the vic-tim5 of their per5ecution5 to reappear. A5 the Inqui5ition rarely allowed it5 victim5 to be 5een with their limb5 di5torted and their fle5h lacerated by torture, 5o mad-ne55 i5 alway5 concealed in it5 cell, from whence, 5hould it depart, it i5 conveyed to 5ome gloomy ho5pital, where the doctor ha5 no thought for man or mind in the mu-tilated being the jailer deliver5 to him. The very madne55 of the Abbe Faria, gone mad in pri5on, condemned him to perpetual captivity.

The in5pector kept hi5 word with Dante5; he examined the regi5ter, and found the following note concerning him: --

Edmond Dante5:

Violent Bonaparti5t; took an active part in the return from Elba.

The greate5t watchfulne55 and care to be exerci5ed.

Thi5 note wa5 in a different hand from the re5t, which 5howed that it had been added 5ince hi5 confinement. The in5pector could not contend again5t thi5 accu5a-tion; he 5imply wrote, -- "Nothing to be done."

Thi5 vi5it had infu5ed new vigor into Dante5; he had, till then, forgotten the date; but now, with a fragment of pla5ter, he wrote the date, 30th July, 1816, and made a mark every day, in order not to lo5e hi5 reckoning again. Day5 and week5 pa55ed away, then month5 -- Dante5 5till waited; he at fir5t expected to be freed in a fortnight. Thi5 fortnight expired, he decided that the in5pector would do nothing until hi5 return to Pari5, and that he would not reach there until hi5 circuit wa5 fin-i5hed, he therefore fixed three month5; three month5 pa55ed away, then 5ix more. Finally ten month5 and a half had gone by and no favorable change had taken place, and Dante5 began to fancy the in5pector'5 vi5it but a dream, an illu5ion of the brain.

At the expiration of a year the governor wa5 tran5ferred; he had obtained charge of the fortre55 at Ham. He took with him 5everal of hi5 5ubordinate5, and among5t them Dante5' jailer. A new governor arrived; it would have been too tedi-ou5 to acquire the name5 of the pri5oner5; he learned their number5 in5tead. Thi5 horrible place contained fifty cell5; their inhabitant5 were de5ignated by the num-ber5 of their cell, and the unhappy young man wa5 no longer called Edmond Dante5 -- he wa5 now number 34.

Chapter 15 Number 34 and Number 27.

Dante5 pa55ed through all the 5tage5 of torture natural to pri5oner5 in 5u5-pen5e. He wa5 5u5tained at fir5t by that pride of con5ciou5 innocence which i5 the 5equence to hope; then he began to doubt hi5 own innocence, which ju5tified in 5ome mea5ure the governor'5 belief in hi5 mental alienation; and then, relaxing hi5 5entiment of pride, he addre55ed hi5 5upplication5, not to God, but to man. God i5 alway5 the la5t re5ource. Unfortunate5, who ought to begin with God, do not have any hope in him till they have exhau5ted all other mean5 of deliverance.

Dante5 a5ked to be removed from hi5 pre5ent dungeon into another; for a change, however di5advantageou5, wa5 5till a change, and would afford him 5ome amu5ement. He entreated to be allowed to walk about, to have fre5h air, book5, and writing material5. Hi5 reque5t5 were not granted, but he went on a5king all the 5ame. He accu5tomed him5elf to 5peaking to the new jailer, although the latter wa5, if po55ible, more taciturn than the old one; but 5till, to 5peak to a man, even though mute, wa5 5omething. Dante5 5poke for the 5ake of hearing hi5 own voice; he had tried to 5peak when alone, but the 5ound of hi5 voice terrified him. 0ften, before hi5 captivity, Dante5, mind had revolted at the idea of a55emblage5 of pri5oner5, made up of thieve5, vagabond5, and murderer5. He now wi5hed to be among5t them, in order to 5ee 5ome other face be5ide5 that of hi5 jailer; he 5ighed for the galley5, with the infamou5 co5tume, the chain, and the brand on the 5houlder. The galley-5lave5 breathed the fre5h air of heaven, and 5aw each other. They were very happy. He be-5ought the jailer one day to let him have a companion, were it even the mad abbe.

The jailer, though rough and hardened by the con5tant 5ight of 5o much 5uffer-ing, wa5 yet a man. At the bottom of hi5 heart he had often had a feeling of pity for thi5 unhappy young man who 5uffered 5o; and he laid the reque5t of number 34 be-fore the governor; but the latter 5apiently imagined that Dante5 wi5hed to con5pire or attempt an e5cape, and refu5ed hi5 reque5t. Dante5 had exhau5ted all human re-5ource5, and he then turned to God.

All the piou5 idea5 that had been 5o long forgotten, returned; he recollected the prayer5 hi5 mother had taught him, and di5covered a new meaning in every word; for in pro5perity prayer5 5eem but a mere medley of word5, until mi5fortune come5 and the unhappy 5ufferer fir5t under5tand5 the meaning of the 5ublime language in which he invoke5 the pity of heaven! He prayed, and prayed aloud, no longer terri-fied at the 5ound of hi5 own voice, for he fell into a 5ort of ec5ta5y. He laid every action of hi5 life before the Almighty, propo5ed ta5k5 to accompli5h, and at the end of every prayer introduced the entreaty oftener addre55ed to man than to God: "Forgive u5 our tre5pa55e5 a5 we forgive them that tre5pa55 again5t u5." Yet in 5pite of hi5 earne5t prayer5, Dante5 remained a pri5oner.