World Literature Classics Library: The Count of Monte Cristo

Chapter 30 Treasure (1)
The next morning, when Dantès returned to the fellow prisoner's cell, he saw that Faria had sat up with a peaceful expression on his face.A ray of sunlight came in from the narrow window of the cell, and in the sunlight he spread his left hand—readers still remember that only his left hand can move now, holding a piece of paper in his hand, because it had been tightly rolled into a small roll before. , the paper is still nested into a cylinder, and it cannot be spread out evenly.The elder didn't say anything, but just showed Dantès the paper.

"What is this?" asked Dantès.

"You look good." The elder said with a smile.

"I can see enough," said Dantès, "only to see a half-burned piece of paper, with Gothic writing and a different ink than usual."

"This paper, my friend," said Faria, "since I see that you are a good man, I will now tell you everything as it is. This paper is my treasure, and it will be my treasure from this day forward. Half of it is yours."

Dantès' forehead was dripping with cold sweat.Up to this day, what a long day and night he had passed, he had kept silent before Faria about the treasure, because it was the root of the poor elder's reputation as a madman.Edmond's careful nature never touched this painful chord, and Faria himself never spoke of it.Edmund thought the old man's silence had returned to his senses, but today, after a serious illness, the old man uttered these few words, which seemed to indicate that his insanity had returned to a serious attack.

"Your treasure?" Dantès hesitated.

Faria smiled slightly, and then said: "Yes. No matter how you look at it, you are indeed a noble-minded person, Edmond. From your pale face and trembling, I know that at this moment you are thinking What. No, don't worry, I'm not crazy. This treasure is indeed there, Dantès, if it's not mine, then you will have it, yes, it's you. No one will listen to me, and no one will People are willing to believe me, because everyone thinks I am crazy, but you should know that I am not crazy, you listen to me first, and finally believe it or not."

"Hey," thought Edmond, "he's a relapse, and I'm very unlucky." Then he said aloud to Faria: "You may be very tired after your illness, my friend, would you like to have a little sleep?" Take a break? If you really want to talk about the treasure, I'll come back tomorrow to hear it from you, but today I'll serve you, and nothing else matters. Besides," he continued with a smile, "the treasure is not an urgent matter for us .”

"It's very urgent, Edmond!" replied the old man. "Who knows whether I will have a third attack tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Yes, to tell the truth, when I think of this wealth, I often feel a kind of anxiety." Bitter pleasure, something that can make 10 families rich, but those who persecuted me missed it. Thinking of this, I think it is a kind of revenge. When I am in a dark prison at night, or in a desperate moment of life behind bars, I pay attention to it. Savor the taste of this revenge. But now, out of love for you, I have forgiven the world. I see that you are still young and have a long journey. I want to tell you the secret, how much happiness you can get. When I think about it now, I can't help but tremble with hatred for my delay in telling it, and tremble with anxiety for not giving this hidden huge wealth to a well-deserved person like you."

Edmund turned away with a sigh.

"You still don't want to believe it, Edmond," continued Faria, "do you not believe what I say? It seems that you want proof. Well, I have never shown this paper to anyone. You might as well read it."

"To-morrow, my friend," said Edmund, unwilling to let the old man go on like this, "I think we have already agreed, and we will talk tomorrow."

"It's okay to talk about it tomorrow, but today you have to read what's written on this piece of paper."

"I can't make him anxious." Edmund thought, he took the piece of paper that was probably accidentally burned, and only half of it was left, and began to read:

...produced, as far as I know, its price is about 20—go to No. 25 on the right side of the small bay in the east of the island—there are two mouths, and the treasure is hidden deep in the second cave—bequeath this treasure to my nephew , and announced at the same time - the sole heir.Kai—April [-], [-].

"How is it?" Faria said after the young man had finished reading.

"But," Dantès said, "there are only some incomplete sentences, the meaning of which cannot be connected, and the fire has burned the words written on them intermittently, and it is impossible to understand what they are talking about."

"My friend, of course you can't understand it when you read it for the first time. But I have worked so hard on these few sentences, how many nights I have been up all night. I have connected every sentence, and all the meanings It's all made up."

"You think you've made up all the words that were burned?"

"Of course I think so. You can judge for yourself. But let me explain the ins and outs of this piece of paper first..."

"Hush!" exclaimed Dantès, "footsteps! They're coming... I'm going... Goodbye." Then Dantès slithered like a snake into the narrow passage, glad to have escaped. He didn't need to listen to stories and explanations. Hearing these words only convinced him that the elder was seriously ill.As for Faria, he regained some vitality in his panic, covered the stone slab at the entrance of the cave with his feet, and then covered it with straw mats, covering up the traces of moving that had not been erased in time.

This time it was the commander of the prison who had heard the guard's report about Faria's sudden illness, so he came to the cell to see for himself how serious the condition was.Faria sat up in bed to meet him, avoiding every movement that might reveal his condition, and in the end did not let the commander see that he was hemiplegic.He was afraid that the commander would transfer him to a cleaner cell and separate him from the young prisoner.Fortunately, what he was worried about did not happen. The commander felt a little bit of sympathy for the poor lunatic, but seeing that he was only slightly uncomfortable, he turned and left.

At this moment Edmund sat up on the bed, cupped his head in his hands, and tried to put his disturbed thoughts back into order.Since he knew Faria, the old man has been so sensible, so noble, and so logical in every respect.Edmund could not understand how a man so brilliant in every respect could have lost his mind on a particular subject? Was Faria infatuated by his treasure? Leah Dantès didn't dare to go to his fellow prisoner's cell anymore, so he stayed in his own dark cell all day long. As long as he could delay it, he didn't want to confirm that the elder was indeed a lunatic. It's horrible.

But in the evening, after the guards came as usual, Faria still did not see the young man, so he tried to crawl through the tunnel to find him.Edmond shuddered when he heard the old man's painful struggle. The old man could no longer move one of his legs, and he couldn't use his arm. He couldn't climb up the narrow passageway in Dantès' cell. , Dantès had no choice but to pull him out of the tunnel.

"Now I'm really after you," said the elder with a kind smile. "Do you think you can hide from my generosity? You can't. Listen to me."

Edmund knew that there was no way to retreat, so he asked the old man to sit on the bed, and he moved the bench to the side of the bed and sat down.

"You know," said the elder, "that I am secretary, confidant, and friend of Cardinal Spada, the last of the princely family of Spada. I have tasted happiness in my life, and it is all due to this Gifted to me by a respectable nobleman. The wealth of his family is well known, and I have often heard the proverb say that a rich man is better than Spada, but he is not rich himself, as the society says, only in the name of being rich Live. His family mansion is my paradise. I have taught him several nephews, but they are all dead. I have followed him faithfully until he was alone in this world, so as to repay the 10 years he has given me. love.

"There's nothing in the Cardinal's house that I don't know. I often see His Excellency looking up old books and searching eagerly for something in the dusty family manuscripts. One day I advised him not to be so busy with nothing. He stayed up all night and was exhausted. He looked at me with a wry smile, and then opened a book about the history of the city of Rome. Chapter 26 of the book is "The Life of Pope Alexander VI", and there are a few paragraphs in the middle that I am forever Can't forget.

"The name of the ancient Italian province of Romania. The war is over. Caesar Bogia has completed his conquest, and he needs money to buy all of Italy. The Pope also needs money to get rid of Louis XII, the king of France, who, although recently frustrated, But it's still pretty scary. Money can only be raised by cheating, which is no easy feat in Italy's ruined lands.

"His Majesty the Pope finally came up with a plan and decided to appoint two cardinals at the same time. As long as two important people in Rome are selected, preferably rich men, the pope's tricks will come naturally. First of all, the cardinal's existing High positions can be sold at the same time; secondly, the two titles of the newly canonized cardinal can be marked with a high price. In addition, there is a third step in the clever acquisition, which will be described in detail below.

"The Pope and Caesar Bogia first had a cardinal candidate. One was Jean Rospigliosi, who held four titles in the Holy See. The other was Caesar Spada , he is a nobleman with the highest title and wealth in the city of Rome. These two people can accept the price of the Pope's favor, because they are ambitious people. Once these two people are selected, their existing positions are also Thereupon, Rospigliosi and Spada donated money to become cardinals, and eight others donated money to buy the important positions previously held by the two new cardinals. The attacker thus made 80 crowns.

"Now comes the third move of ingenuity. The Pope has favored both Rospigliosi and Spada, and awarded them the Cardinal Cross. The Pope knows that these two must sell their fortunes and go to Rome. Settled down, in return for the Pope's favor, so the Pope and Caesar Boria gave a feast to the two cardinals.

"It also led to a dispute between the pope and his son Caesar Bogia. Caesar thought he could choose one of the methods he had always used to deal with his confidants. The first method was to use that very good key, which made people Take this key to open a certain cabinet. Due to the negligence of the locksmith, the key has an iron spike on it. The lock of the cabinet is tight, so you have to turn the key hard, so the iron spike stabbed the person. Another way is to use the ring of the lion's head, Caesar wears this ring to shake hands, the lion can bite through the favored hand, and the wound will kill the person after 24 hours. Caesar proposed to his father, or please The two cardinals went to speak, or shook hands with both of them affectionately, but Alexander replied:
"'Rospigliosi and Spada are great cardinals, and it's no big deal to treat them to dinner. I seem to think we'll get our money back. And don't you forget, Caesar , there will be an immediate reaction if the food is inappropriate, but it will take a day or two for a puncture or bite to produce results.'

"Caesar felt that these words made sense, so the two cardinals were summoned to the banquet. The banquet was held in the Pope's Vineyard near St. Pierre. The house here is very beautiful. The two cardinals had long been Hearing. Rospigliosi, ecstatic at his new high position, beamed with joy, ready to drink. The old and prudent Spada thought only of his beloved nephew, a promising young officer, Sparta. Pada fetched paper and pen, made a will, and then sent someone to tell his nephew to wait for him near the vineyard, but it seems that the servant did not find his nephew.

"Sparta knows the etiquette of this kind of banquet. Since Christianity has brought progress to Rome, no centurion will come to you to convey the decree of the tyrant to death, but a herald with a smile on his mouth Conveying to you the Pope's invitation: what did His Majesty ask you to dine with us. At about two o'clock in the afternoon Spada left for St. Pierre, where the Pope was waiting for him. Spada first saw It was his nephew in full military uniform, elegant in appearance, whom Caesar Polya was admiring, and Spada blanched, and Caesar cast him a sneering glance, which meant that nothing was wrong with him. As expected, the trap has been carefully laid out.

"During the banquet, Spada only had time to ask his nephew: 'Have you brought my message to you? He drank the glass of wine that had been brought to him alone. At that moment Spada saw the bottle that was also brought to him, and poured it for him with great graciousness. An hour later the doctor pronounced that both Mushroom poisoning. Spada died at the entrance to the vineyard, and his nephew died at the door of his own house, making a gesture which his wife did not understand.

(End of this chapter)