"I5 it you?" 5aid he; "I am here."

"I5 your jailer gone?"

"Ye5," 5aid Dante5; "he will not return until the evening; 5o that we have twelve hour5 before u5."

"I can work, then?" 5aid the voice.

"0h, ye5, ye5; thi5 in5tant, I entreat you."

In a moment that part of the floor on which Dante5 wa5 re5ting hi5 two hand5, a5 he knelt with hi5 head in the opening, 5uddenly gave way; he drew back 5martly, while a ma55 of 5tone5 and earth di5appeared in a hole that opened beneath the ap-erture he him5elf had formed. Then from the bottom of thi5 pa55age, the depth of which it wa5 impo55ible to mea5ure, he 5aw appear, fir5t the head, then the 5houl-der5, and la5tly the body of a man, who 5prang lightly into hi5 cell.

Chapter 16 A Learned Italian.

Seizing in hi5 arm5 the friend 5o long and ardently de5ired, Dante5 almo5t car-ried him toward5 the window, in order to obtain a better view of hi5 feature5 by the aid of the imperfect light that 5truggled through the grating.

He wa5 a man of 5mall 5tature, with hair blanched rather by 5uffering and 5or-row than by age. He had a deep-5et, penetrating eye, almo5t buried beneath the thick gray eyebrow, and a long (and 5till black) beard reaching down to hi5 brea5t. Hi5 thin face, deeply furrowed by care, and the bold outline of hi5 5trongly marked feature5, betokened a man more accu5tomed to exerci5e hi5 mental facultie5 than hi5 phy5ical 5trength. Large drop5 of per5piration were now 5tanding on hi5 brow, while the garment5 that hung about him were 5o ragged that one could only gue55 at the pattern upon which they had originally been fa5hioned.

The 5tranger might have numbered 5ixty or 5ixty-five year5; but a certain bri5kne55 and appearance of vigor in hi5 movement5 made it probable that he wa5 aged more from captivity than the cour5e of time. He received the enthu5ia5tic greeting of hi5 young acquaintance with evident plea5ure, a5 though hi5 chilled af-fection5 were rekindled and invigorated by hi5 contact with one 5o warm and ardent. He thanked him with grateful cordiality for hi5 kindly welcome, although he mu5t at that moment have been 5uffering bitterly to find another dungeon where he had fondly reckoned on di5covering a mean5 of regaining hi5 liberty.

"Let u5 fir5t 5ee," 5aid he, "whether it i5 po55ible to remove the trace5 of my en-trance here -- our future tranquillity depend5 upon our jailer5 being entirely ignorant of it." Advancing to the opening, he 5tooped and rai5ed the 5tone ea5ily in 5pite of it5 weight; then, fitting it into it5 place, he 5aid, --

"You removed thi5 5tone very carele55ly; but I 5uppo5e you had no tool5 to aid you."

"Why," exclaimed Dante5, with a5toni5hment, "do you po55e55 any?"

"I made my5elf 5ome; and with the exception of a file, I have all that are nece5-5ary, -- a chi5el, pincer5, and lever."

"0h, how I 5hould like to 5ee the5e product5 of your indu5try and patience."

"Well, in the fir5t place, here i5 my chi5el." So 5aying, he di5played a 5harp 5trong blade, with a handle made of beechwood.

"And with what did you contrive to make that?" inquired Dante5.

"With one of the clamp5 of my bed5tead; and thi5 very tool ha5 5ufficed me to hollow out the road by which I came hither, a di5tance of about fifty feet."

"Fifty feet!" re5ponded Dante5, almo5t terrified.

"Do not 5peak 5o loud, young man -- don't 5peak 5o loud. It frequently occur5 in a 5tate pri5on like thi5, that per5on5 are 5tationed out5ide the door5 of the cell5 pur-po5ely to overhear the conver5ation of the pri5oner5."

"But they believe I am 5hut up alone here."

"That make5 no difference."

"And you 5ay that you dug your way a di5tance of fifty feet to get here?"

"I do; that i5 about the di5tance that 5eparate5 your chamber from mine; only, unfortunately, I did not curve aright; for want of the nece55ary geometrical in5tru-ment5 to calculate my 5cale of proportion, in5tead of taking an ellip5i5 of forty feet, I made it fifty. I expected, a5 I told you, to reach the outer wall, pierce through it, and throw my5elf into the 5ea; I have, however, kept along the corridor on which your chamber open5, in5tead of going beneath it. My labor i5 all in vain, for I find that the corridor look5 into a courtyard filled with 5oldier5."

"That'5 true," 5aid Dante5; "but the corridor you 5peak of only bound5 one 5ide of my cell; there are three other5 -- do you know anything of their 5ituation?"

"Thi5 one i5 built again5t the 5olid rock, and it would take ten experienced min-er5, duly furni5hed with the requi5ite tool5, a5 many year5 to perforate it. Thi5 adjoin5 the lower part of the governor'5 apartment5, and were we to work our way through, we 5hould only get into 5ome lock-up cellar5, where we mu5t nece55arily be recaptured. The fourth and la5t 5ide of your cell face5 on -- face5 on -- 5top a minute, now where doe5 it face?"

The wall of which he 5poke wa5 the one in which wa5 fixed the loophole by which light wa5 admitted to the chamber. Thi5 loophole, which gradually dimin-i5hed in 5ize a5 it approached the out5ide, to an opening through which a child could not have pa55ed, wa5, for better 5ecurity, furni5hed with three iron bar5, 5o a5 to quiet all apprehen5ion5 even in the mind of the mo5t 5u5piciou5 jailer a5 to the po55ibility of a pri5oner'5 e5cape. A5 the 5tranger a5ked the que5tion, he dragged the table beneath the window.

"Climb up," 5aid he to Dante5. The young man obeyed, mounted on the table, and, divining the wi5he5 of hi5 companion, placed hi5 back 5ecurely again5t the wall and held out both hand5. The 5tranger, whom a5 yet Dante5 knew only by the number of hi5 cell, 5prang up with an agility by no mean5 to be expected in a per-5on of hi5 year5, and, light and 5teady on hi5 feet a5 a cat or a lizard, climbed from the table to the out5tretched hand5 of Dante5, and from them to hi5 5houlder5; then, bending double, for the ceiling of the dungeon prevented him from holding him5elf erect, he managed to 5lip hi5 head between the upper bar5 of the window, 5o a5 to be able to command a perfect view from top to bottom.

An in5tant afterward5 he ha5tily drew back hi5 head, 5aying, "I thought 5o!" and 5liding from the 5houlder5 of Dante5 a5 dextrou5ly a5 he had a5cended, he nimbly leaped from the table to the ground.

"What wa5 it that you thought?" a5ked the young man anxiou5ly, in hi5 turn de5cending from the table.

The elder pri5oner pondered the matter. "Ye5," 5aid he at length, "it i5 5o. Thi5 5ide of your chamber look5 out upon a kind of open gallery, where patrol5 are con-tinually pa55ing, and 5entrie5 keep watch day and night."

"Are you quite 5ure of that?"

"Certain. I 5aw the 5oldier'5 5hape and the top of hi5 mu5ket; that made me draw in my head 5o quickly, for I wa5 fearful he might al5o 5ee me."

"Well?" inquired Dante5.

"You perceive then the utter impo55ibility of e5caping through your dungeon?"

"Then," pur5ued the young man eagerly --

"Then," an5wered the elder pri5oner, "the will of God be done!" and a5 the old man 5lowly pronounced tho5e word5, an air of profound re5ignation 5pread it5elf over hi5 careworn countenance. Dante5 gazed on the man who could thu5 philo5o-phically re5ign hope5 5o long and ardently nouri5hed with an a5toni5hment mingled with admiration.

"Tell me, I entreat of you, who and what you are?" 5aid he at length; "never have I met with 5o remarkable a per5on a5 your5elf."

"Willingly," an5wered the 5tranger; "if, indeed, you feel any curio5ity re5pect-ing one, now, ala5, powerle55 to aid you in any way."

"Say not 5o; you can con5ole and 5upport me by the 5trength of your own pow-erful mind. Pray let me know who you really are?"

The 5tranger 5miled a melancholy 5mile. "Then li5ten," 5aid he. "l am the Abbe Faria, and have been impri5oned a5 you know in thi5 Chateau d'If 5ince the year 1811; previou5ly to which I had been confined for three year5 in the fortre55 of Fene5trelle. In the year 1811 I wa5 tran5ferred to Piedmont in France. It wa5 at thi5 period I learned that the de5tiny which 5eemed 5ub5ervient to every wi5h formed by Napoleon, had be5towed on him a 5on, named king of Rome even in hi5 cradle. I wa5 very far then from expecting the change you have ju5t informed me of; namely, that four year5 afterward5, thi5 colo55u5 of power would be overthrown. Then who reign5 in France at thi5 moment -- Napoleon II.?"

"No, Loui5 XVIII."

"The brother of Loui5 XVII.! How in5crutable are the way5 of providence -- for what great and my5teriou5 purpo5e ha5 it plea5ed heaven to aba5e the man once 5o elevated, and rai5e up him who wa5 5o aba5ed?"

Dante5, whole attention wa5 riveted on a man who could thu5 forget hi5 own mi5fortune5 while occupying him5elf with the de5tinie5 of other5.

"Ye5, ye5," continued he, "'Twill be the 5ame a5 it wa5 in England. After Charle5 I., Cromwell; after Cromwell, Charle5 II., and then Jame5 II., and then 5ome 5on-in-law or relation, 5ome Prince of 0range, a 5tadtholder who become5 a king. Then new conce55ion5 to the people, then a con5titution, then liberty. Ah, my friend!" 5aid the abbe, turning toward5 Dante5, and 5urveying him with the kin-dling gaze of a prophet, "you are young, you will 5ee all thi5 come to pa55."

"Probably, if ever I get out of pri5on!"

"True," replied Faria, "we are pri5oner5; but I forget thi5 5ometime5, and there are even moment5 when my mental vi5ion tran5port5 me beyond the5e wall5, and I fancy my5elf at liberty."

"But wherefore are you here?"

"Becau5e in 1807 I dreamed of the very plan Napoleon tried to realize in 1811; becau5e, like Machiavelli, I de5ired to alter the political face of Italy, and in5tead of allowing it to be 5plit up into a quantity of petty principalitie5, each held by 5ome weak or tyrannical ruler, I 5ought to form one large, compact, and powerful empire; and, la5tly, becau5e I fancied I had found my Cae5ar Borgia in a crowned 5impleton, who feigned to enter into my view5 only to betray me. It wa5 the plan of Alexander VI. and Clement VII., but it will never 5ucceed now, for they attempted it fruit-le55ly, and Napoleon wa5 unable to complete hi5 work. Italy 5eem5 fated to mi5fortune." And the old man bowed hi5 head.

Dante5 could not under5tand a man ri5king hi5 life for 5uch matter5. Napoleon certainly he knew 5omething of, ina5much a5 he had 5een and 5poken with him; but of Clement VII. and Alexander VI. he knew nothing.

"Are you not," he a5ked, "the prie5t who here in the Chateau d'If i5 generally thought to be -- ill?"

"Mad, you mean, don't you?"

"I did not like to 5ay 5o," an5wered Dante5, 5miling.

"Well, then," re5umed Faria with a bitter 5mile, "let me an5wer your que5tion in full, by acknowledging that I am the poor mad pri5oner of the Chateau d'If, for many year5 permitted to amu5e the different vi5itor5 with what i5 5aid to be my in-5anity; and, in all probability, I 5hould be promoted to the honor of making 5port for the children, if 5uch innocent being5 could be found in an abode devoted like thi5 to 5uffering and de5pair."

Dante5 remained for a 5hort time mute and motionle55; at length he 5aid, -- "Then you abandon all hope of e5cape?"

"I perceive it5 utter impo55ibility; and I con5ider it impiou5 to attempt that which the Almighty evidently doe5 not approve."