World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 28 The Elder's Cell (2)
"It might be beneficial, because he told me two or three times that I promise not to tell anyone about the letter. He said it was for my own good, and he made me swear that I would never tell who the recipient was."

"Nuakie?" the elder repeated the name, "Nuakie? I know the ancient place name of Etria in Italy. From 1801 to 1808, Napoleon established the Kingdom of Etria here, which was later incorporated into the French Empire. There was a man named Noirquier in the former dynasty of women, and there was a Girondist named Noirquier during the Revolution. What is the name of the deputy prosecutor who tried you?"

"Villefort."

The elder laughed loudly, and Dantès looked at the elder in amazement.

"What is the matter with you?" said Dantès.

"Do you see a ray of sunshine over there?"

"I saw it."

"Very well, the matter is as clear to me now as the bright sunshine. Poor boy, poor young man! Your Honor has been very kind to you, hasn't he?"

"Yes."

"The honorable acting prosecutor burned and destroyed that letter, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"This magistrate who can send executioners wants you to swear that you will never speak the name of Noirquier, doesn't he?"

"Yes."

"This Noirquier, you are so confused. Do you know who this Nuirakier is? This Nuwaquier is his father!"

Even if a thunderbolt hits Dantès' feet, splitting the abyss leading directly to hell, he will not feel as sudden as hearing this unexpected sentence, nor will he be as horrified as being electrocuted.He stood up, holding his head with his hands, as if he was afraid that his head would explode. "His father! His father!" he cried.

"Yes, his father's full name is Noirquier Villefort," said the elder.

Then a flash of light shot into the prisoner's mind, and what had always been vague was suddenly illuminated by the bright sun.How Villefort hemmed and hawed during the interrogation, how the letter was burned, and how he was forced to swear, why the Lord Judge, instead of threatening him, spoke in a pleading tone, and seemed to be begging him instead, this scene He remembered another scene.He roared involuntarily, staggered for a moment like a drunken man, and after a while he hurried towards the passage leading from his own cell to the elder's cell, and said: "Ah! I'll have to figure it out by myself what happened."

When he returned to his cell, he collapsed on the bed.When the guards came over at night, they found him sitting on the bed, his eyes were staring, his face was full of anger, he didn't say a word, motionless like a statue.He was brooding, and the hours passed, and it seemed as if only a few seconds passed, and he had made a terrible resolution, made an extraordinary oath.Someone spoke to wake him from his dream, and it was Faria who called him.The guard also went to Faria's cell, and now Faria came to invite Dantès to dinner.The old prisoner is regarded as a lunatic by the prison, and he is an interesting lunatic, so he has some special treatment. For example, every Sunday he can eat relatively white bread and drink a small bottle of wine.This day happened to be Sunday, and the elder came to ask his young fellow prisoner to share his bread and wine.

Dantès followed the elders.At this time, his facial expression had calmed down and returned to its usual appearance, but there was a stern and resolute expression, which could almost be said to reveal a certain kind of determination that had been secretly made.The elder stared at him intently.

"I really regret helping you find out the truth and telling you those things," said the elder.

"Where do these words come from?" asked Dantès.

"Because I injected into you an emotion that you never had before—revenge."

Dantès smiled and said: "Let's talk about something else!"

The elder looked at him again, shook his head sadly, and then followed Dantès's wishes and talked about other things.The old prisoner was such a man, who spoke as well as those who have lived through many times, and gave many good lessons, but apart from himself, the unfortunate old man never talked about his bad luck.Dantès listened to every word of the old man with admiration, some of which coincided with what he thought, and were no different from the insights he had gained as a sailor, while the rest of the words were like the aurora seen by navigators in the Antarctic Circle And so on, these are all things that this young man has never heard of, and let him see the scenery full of strange splendor and new world.Dantès realized that the old man is a wise man who not only travels to the top of ethics, philosophy and society, but also surpasses the peaks. Listening to his explanation is a kind of happiness, which can make people enlightened and wise.

"Would you teach me a little of your knowledge," said Dantès, "assuming you and I are entertaining together. I can see now that you like quietness and don't want to be like me, an uneducated ignorant. If you agree to my request, I can assure you that I will never ask you about escape again."

The elder smiled slightly and said, "Hey, my child, human knowledge is limited, when I teach you mathematics, physics, history and the three or four foreign languages ​​I can speak, you will master all my knowledge. So, in less than two years, I can pass on all my knowledge to you."

"Two years?" said Dantès, "do you think I can learn all this in two years?"

"It is not enough to learn how to use it, but it is possible to learn the principles of this knowledge. Learning is not the same as being able to do it. Some people just know it, while others have researched it. You can know it by memorizing it, but you need to understand philosophy to do research. "

"Then why not study philosophy?"

"Philosophy cannot be learned. Philosophy is the sum of all kinds of acquired knowledge used by geniuses. Philosophy is the glorious cloud under which Christ ascended to heaven under his feet."

"Tell me," said Dantès, "what will you teach me first? I really want to get started, I am eager to acquire knowledge."

"Learn everything."

The two prisoners, the young and the old, really drew up the study plan that night, and started to put it into action the next day.Dantès has an incredible memory and a strong comprehension ability. He has a mathematical mind and quickly grasps what he has learned through calculations.He is a sailor, very poetic, which enlivens the overly materialistic content of inductive arguments with dry figures and rigid lines.He already knew Italian and learned a little modern Greek on a voyage to the eastern Mediterranean. Having understood these two foreign languages, he quickly mastered the structure of other foreign languages, and after six months he was already able to speak Spanish, English and german too.

As he assured the Elder Faria, it may also be that learning has distracted him from thinking about freedom; perhaps, as we have already said, he is a man of his word, in short, he never mentioned it again. The subject of escape.Time passed quickly and instructively for him, and a year later he became a different person.

As for Elder Faria, Dantès found that although he was with him in the prison and helped him out, the elder became more and more melancholy every day, as if there was always something on his mind that was lingering endlessly.He would lose himself in deep thought, sigh involuntarily, rise suddenly, fold his arms, and pace gloomyly up and down the cell.One day, as he was circling his cell as he had done a hundred times before, he stopped suddenly and cried out, "Ah! If it hadn't been for the sentinel!"

"As long as you agree, there will be no sentries immediately." Dantès said, he had already guessed what was going on in the elder's mind like a crystal box.

"Ah, I told you," continued the elder, "that I abhor murder."

"But the murder we are talking about now, even if it is committed, is to save ourselves, and it is out of self-defense considerations."

"Anyway, I don't agree."

"But you are thinking."

"I kept thinking about it." The elder said in a low voice.

"You've figured it out, haven't you?" Dantès asked hastily.

"Yes, if only the sentinels posted on the porch were blind and deaf."

"He will be blind, he will be deaf," replied the young man, with such firmness that it frightened the elder.

"No, no," cried the elder, "impossible!"

Dantès wanted to talk to the elder very much, but the elder just shook his head and refused to say anything more.

Three months passed in a blink of an eye.

"Are you physically strong?" one day the elder asked Dantès.

Dantès said nothing, but took a chisel, bent it into the shape of a horseshoe, and straightened it.

"Can you guarantee that you won't kill the sentinel unless it is absolutely necessary?"

"Okay, on my honor."

"Then," said the elder, "we can carry out our plan."

"How long will it take to complete."

"At least a year."

"What do you want to do now?"

"Do it now."

"Ah, you see, we have lost a year in vain," cried Dantès.

"Do you think we have spent a year in vain?" said the elder.

"Oh, please forgive me, please forgive me," said Edmund, blushing.

"Okay," said the elder, "people are people after all, and you are one of the best people I have ever met. Look, this is the picture I drew." The elder gave Dantès the picture he designed Look, the picture includes his and Dantes' respective cells and the tunnel connecting the two cells. In the middle of the tunnel, he designed a long and narrow passage similar to a coal mine tunnel.Following this secret passage, the two prisoners can lead to the bottom of the corridor where the sentinel paces back and forth.Once there, they dug a wide opening. The stone slabs above the opening were used for paving the corridor. Before he could resist in a daze, Dantès rushed forward to tie him up and gag him, and the two of them jumped out from the window in the corridor, climbed out of the wall with the rope ladder, and they could escape.Dantes couldn't help clapping his hands when he heard this, and his eyes shone with joy.The plan is very simple, and it is sure to succeed.

(End of this chapter)