The Count of Monte Cristo, Illustrated

by Alexandre Dumas

  Chapter 18. The Treasure

  When Dantès returned next morning to the chamber of his companion incaptivity, he found Faria seated and looking composed. In the ray oflight which entered by the narrow window of his cell, he held open inhis left hand, of which alone, it will be recollected, he retained theuse, a sheet of paper, which, from being constantly rolled into a smallcompass, had the form of a cylinder, and was not easily kept open. Hedid not speak, but showed the paper to Dantès.

  “What is that?” he inquired.

  “Look at it,” said the abbé with a smile.

  “I have looked at it with all possible attention,” said Dantès, “and Ionly see a half-burnt paper, on which are traces of Gothic charactersinscribed with a peculiar kind of ink.”

  “This paper, my friend,” said Faria, “I may now avow to you, since Ihave the proof of your fidelity—this paper is my treasure, of which,from this day forth, one-half belongs to you.”

  The sweat started forth on Dantès’ brow. Until this day and for how longa time!—he had refrained from talking of the treasure, which had broughtupon the abbé the accusation of madness. With his instinctive delicacyEdmond had preferred avoiding any touch on this painful chord, and Fariahad been equally silent. He had taken the silence of the old man for areturn to reason; and now these few words uttered by Faria, after sopainful a crisis, seemed to indicate a serious relapse into mentalalienation.

  “Your treasure?” stammered Dantès. Faria smiled.

  “Yes,” said he. “You have, indeed, a noble nature, Edmond, and I see byyour paleness and agitation what is passing in your heart at thismoment. No, be assured, I am not mad. This treasure exists, Dantès, andif I have not been allowed to possess it, you will. Yes—you. No onewould listen or believe me, because everyone thought me mad; but you,who must know that I am not, listen to me, and believe me so afterwardsif you will.”

  “Alas,” murmured Edmond to himself, “this is a terrible relapse! Therewas only this blow wanting.” Then he said aloud, “My dear friend, yourattack has, perhaps, fatigued you; had you not better repose awhile?Tomorrow, if you will, I will hear your narrative; but today I wish tonurse you carefully. Besides,” he said, “a treasure is not a thing weneed hurry about.”

  “On the contrary, it is a matter of the utmost importance, Edmond!”replied the old man. “Who knows if tomorrow, or the next day after, thethird attack may not come on? and then must not all be over? Yes,indeed, I have often thought with a bitter joy that these riches, whichwould make the wealth of a dozen families, will be forever lost to thosemen who persecute me. This idea was one of vengeance to me, and I tastedit slowly in the night of my dungeon and the despair of my captivity.But now I have forgiven the world for the love of you; now that I seeyou, young and with a promising future,—now that I think of all that mayresult to you in the good fortune of such a disclosure, I shudder at anydelay, and tremble lest I should not assure to one as worthy as yourselfthe possession of so vast an amount of hidden wealth.”

  Edmond turned away his head with a sigh.

  “You persist in your incredulity, Edmond,” continued Faria. “My wordshave not convinced you. I see you require proofs. Well, then, read thispaper, which I have never shown to anyone.”

  “Tomorrow, my dear friend,” said Edmond, desirous of not yielding to theold man’s madness. “I thought it was understood that we should not talkof that until tomorrow.”

  “Then we will not talk of it until tomorrow; but read this paper today.”

  “I will not irritate him,” thought Edmond, and taking the paper, ofwhich half was wanting,—having been burnt, no doubt, by someaccident,—he read:

  “this treasure, which may amount to two... of Roman crowns in the mostdistant a... of the second opening wh... declare to belong to him alo...heir. “25th April, 149’”

  “Well!” said Faria, when the young man had finished reading it.

  “Why,” replied Dantès, “I see nothing but broken lines and unconnectedwords, which are rendered illegible by fire.”

  “Yes, to you, my friend, who read them for the first time; but not forme, who have grown pale over them by many nights’ study, and havereconstructed every phrase, completed every thought.”

  “And do you believe you have discovered the hidden meaning?”

  “I am sure I have, and you shall judge for yourself; but first listen tothe history of this paper.”

  “Silence!” exclaimed Dantès. “Steps approach—I go—adieu!”

  And Dantès, happy to escape the history and explanation which would besure to confirm his belief in his friend’s mental instability, glidedlike a snake along the narrow passage; while Faria, restored by hisalarm to a certain amount of activity, pushed the stone into place withhis foot, and covered it with a mat in order the more effectually toavoid discovery.

  It was the governor, who, hearing of Faria’s illness from the jailer,had come in person to see him.

  Faria sat up to receive him, avoiding all gestures in order that hemight conceal from the governor the paralysis that had already halfstricken him with death. His fear was lest the governor, touched withpity, might order him to be removed to better quarters, and thusseparate him from his young companion. But fortunately this was not thecase, and the governor left him, convinced that the poor madman, forwhom in his heart he felt a kind of affection, was only troubled with aslight indisposition.

  During this time, Edmond, seated on his bed with his head in his hands,tried to collect his scattered thoughts. Faria, since their firstacquaintance, had been on all points so rational and logical, sowonderfully sagacious, in fact, that he could not understand how so muchwisdom on all points could be allied with madness. Was Faria deceived asto his treasure, or was all the world deceived as to Faria?

  Dantès remained in his cell all day, not daring to return to his friend,thinking thus to defer the moment when he should be convinced, once forall, that the abbé was mad—such a conviction would be so terrible!

  But, towards the evening after the hour for the customary visit had goneby, Faria, not seeing the young man appear, tried to move and get overthe distance which separated them. Edmond shuddered when he heard thepainful efforts which the old man made to drag himself along; his legwas inert, and he could no longer make use of one arm. Edmond wasobliged to assist him, for otherwise he would not have been able toenter by the small aperture which led to Dantès’ chamber.

  “Here I am, pursuing you remorselessly,” he said with a benignant smile.“You thought to escape my munificence, but it is in vain. Listen to me.”

  Edmond saw there was no escape, and placing the old man on his bed, heseated himself on the stool beside him.

  “You know,” said the abbé, “that I was the secretary and intimate friendof Cardinal Spada, the last of the princes of that name. I owe to thisworthy lord all the happiness I ever knew. He was not rich, although thewealth of his family had passed into a proverb, and I heard the phrasevery often, ‘As rich as a Spada.’ But he, like public rumor, lived onthis reputation for wealth; his palace was my paradise. I was tutor tohis nephews, who are dead; and when he was alone in the world, I triedby absolute devotion to his will, to make up to him all he had done forme during ten years of unremitting kindness. The cardinal’s house had nosecrets for me. I had often seen my noble patron annotating ancientvolumes, and eagerly searching amongst dusty family manuscripts. One daywhen I was reproaching him for his unavailing searches, and deploringthe prostration of mind that followed them, he looked at me, and,smiling bitterly, opened a volume relating to the History of the City ofRome. There, in the twentieth chapter of the Life of Pope Alexander VI.,were the following lines, which I can never forget:—

  “‘The great wars of Romagna had ended; Cæsar Borgia, who had completedhis conquest, had need of money to purchase all Italy. The pope had alsoneed of money to bring matters to an end with Louis XII. King of France,who was formidable still in spite of his recent reverses; and it wasnecessary, therefore, to have
recourse to some profitable scheme, whichwas a matter of great difficulty in the impoverished condition ofexhausted Italy. His holiness had an idea. He determined to make twocardinals.’

  “By choosing two of the greatest personages of Rome, especially richmen—this was the return the Holy Father looked for. In the first place,he could sell the great appointments and splendid offices which thecardinals already held; and then he had the two hats to sell besides.There was a third point in view, which will appear hereafter.

  “The pope and Cæsar Borgia first found the two future cardinals; theywere Giovanni Rospigliosi, who held four of the highest dignities of theHoly See, and Cæsar Spada, one of the noblest and richest of the Romannobility; both felt the high honor of such a favor from the pope. Theywere ambitious, and Cæsar Borgia soon found purchasers for theirappointments. The result was, that Rospigliosi and Spada paid for beingcardinals, and eight other persons paid for the offices the cardinalsheld before their elevation, and thus eight hundred thousand crownsentered into the coffers of the speculators.

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  “It is time now to proceed to the last part of the speculation. The popeheaped attentions upon Rospigliosi and Spada, conferred upon them theinsignia of the cardinalate, and induced them to arrange their affairsand take up their residence at Rome. Then the pope and Cæsar Borgiainvited the two cardinals to dinner. This was a matter of disputebetween the Holy Father and his son. Cæsar thought they could make useof one of the means which he always had ready for his friends, that isto say, in the first place, the famous key which was given to certainpersons with the request that they go and open a designated cupboard.This key was furnished with a small iron point,—a negligence on the partof the locksmith. When this was pressed to effect the opening of thecupboard, of which the lock was difficult, the person was pricked bythis small point, and died next day. Then there was the ring with thelion’s head, which Cæsar wore when he wanted to greet his friends with aclasp of the hand. The lion bit the hand thus favored, and at the end oftwenty-four hours, the bite was mortal.

  “Cæsar proposed to his father, that they should either ask the cardinalsto open the cupboard, or shake hands with them; but Alexander VI.replied: ‘Now as to the worthy cardinals, Spada and Rospigliosi, let usask both of them to dinner, something tells me that we shall get thatmoney back. Besides, you forget, Cæsar, an indigestion declares itselfimmediately, while a prick or a bite occasions a delay of a day or two.’Cæsar gave way before such cogent reasoning, and the cardinals wereconsequently invited to dinner.

  “The table was laid in a vineyard belonging to the pope, near SanPierdarena, a charming retreat which the cardinals knew very well byreport. Rospigliosi, quite set up with his new dignities, went with agood appetite and his most ingratiating manner. Spada, a prudent man,and greatly attached to his only nephew, a young captain of the highestpromise, took paper and pen, and made his will. He then sent word to hisnephew to wait for him near the vineyard; but it appeared the servantdid not find him.

  “Spada knew what these invitations meant; since Christianity, soeminently civilizing, had made progress in Rome, it was no longer acenturion who came from the tyrant with a message, ‘Cæsar wills that youdie.’ but it was a legate à latere, who came with a smile on his lips tosay from the pope, ‘His holiness requests you to dine with him.’

  “Spada set out about two o’clock to San Pierdarena. The pope awaitedhim. The first sight that attracted the eyes of Spada was that of hisnephew, in full costume, and Cæsar Borgia paying him most markedattentions. Spada turned pale, as Cæsar looked at him with an ironicalair, which proved that he had anticipated all, and that the snare waswell spread.

  “They began dinner and Spada was only able to inquire of his nephew ifhe had received his message. The nephew replied no; perfectlycomprehending the meaning of the question. It was too late, for he hadalready drunk a glass of excellent wine, placed for him expressly by thepope’s butler. Spada at the same moment saw another bottle approach him,which he was pressed to taste. An hour afterwards a physician declaredthey were both poisoned through eating mushrooms. Spada died on thethreshold of the vineyard; the nephew expired at his own door, makingsigns which his wife could not comprehend.

  “Then Cæsar and the pope hastened to lay hands on the heritage, underpretense of seeking for the papers of the dead man. But the inheritanceconsisted in this only, a scrap of paper on which Spada had written:—‘Ibequeath to my beloved nephew my coffers, my books, and, amongst others,my breviary with the gold corners, which I beg he will preserve inremembrance of his affectionate uncle.’

  “The heirs sought everywhere, admired the breviary, laid hands on thefurniture, and were greatly astonished that Spada, the rich man, wasreally the most miserable of uncles—no treasures—unless they were thoseof science, contained in the library and laboratories. That was all.Cæsar and his father searched, examined, scrutinized, but found nothing,or at least very little; not exceeding a few thousand crowns in plate,and about the same in ready money; but the nephew had time to say to hiswife before he expired: ‘Look well among my uncle’s papers; there is awill.’

  “They sought even more thoroughly than the august heirs had done, but itwas fruitless. There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the PalatineHill; but in these days landed property had not much value, and the twopalaces and the vineyard remained to the family since they were beneaththe rapacity of the pope and his son. Months and years rolled on.Alexander VI. died, poisoned,—you know by what mistake. Cæsar, poisonedat the same time, escaped by shedding his skin like a snake; but the newskin was spotted by the poison till it looked like a tiger’s. Then,compelled to quit Rome, he went and got himself obscurely killed in anight skirmish, scarcely noticed in history.

  “After the pope’s death and his son’s exile, it was supposed that theSpada family would resume the splendid position they had held before thecardinal’s time; but this was not the case. The Spadas remained indoubtful ease, a mystery hung over this dark affair, and the publicrumor was, that Cæsar, a better politician than his father, had carriedoff from the pope the fortune of the two cardinals. I say the two,because Cardinal Rospigliosi, who had not taken any precaution, wascompletely despoiled.

  “Up to this point,” said Faria, interrupting the thread of hisnarrative, “this seems to you very meaningless, no doubt, eh?”

  “Oh, my friend,” cried Dantès, “on the contrary, it seems as if I werereading a most interesting narrative; go on, I beg of you.”

  “I will. The family began to get accustomed to their obscurity. Yearsrolled on, and amongst the descendants some were soldiers, othersdiplomatists; some churchmen, some bankers; some grew rich, and somewere ruined. I come now to the last of the family, whose secretary Iwas—the Count of Spada. I had often heard him complain of thedisproportion of his rank with his fortune; and I advised him to investall he had in an annuity. He did so, and thus doubled his income. Thecelebrated breviary remained in the family, and was in the count’spossession. It had been handed down from father to son; for the singularclause of the only will that had been found, had caused it to beregarded as a genuine relic, preserved in the family with superstitiousveneration. It was an illuminated book, with beautiful Gothiccharacters, and so weighty with gold, that a servant always carried itbefore the cardinal on days of great solemnity.

  “At the sight of papers of all sorts,—titles, contracts, parchments,which were kept in the archives of the family, all descending from thepoisoned cardinal, I in my turn examined the immense bundles ofdocuments, like twenty servitors, stewards, secretaries before me; butin spite of the most exhaustive researches, I found—nothing. Yet I hadread, I had even written a precise history of the Borgia family, for thesole purpose of assuring myself whether any increase of fortune hadoccurred to them on the death of the Cardinal Cæsar Spada; but couldonly trace the acquisition of the property of the Cardinal Rospigliosi,his companion in misfortune.

  “I was then almost assured that the inheritance had neither pro
fited theBorgias nor the family, but had remained unpossessed like the treasuresof the Arabian Nights, which slept in the bosom of the earth under theeyes of the genie. I searched, ransacked, counted, calculated a thousandand a thousand times the income and expenditure of the family for threehundred years. It was useless. I remained in my ignorance, and the Countof Spada in his poverty.

  “My patron died. He had reserved from his annuity his family papers, hislibrary, composed of five thousand volumes, and his famous breviary. Allthese he bequeathed to me, with a thousand Roman crowns, which he had inready money, on condition that I would have anniversary masses said forthe repose of his soul, and that I would draw up a genealogical tree andhistory of his house. All this I did scrupulously. Be easy, my dearEdmond, we are near the conclusion.

  “In 1807, a month before I was arrested, and a fortnight after the deathof the Count of Spada, on the 25th of December (you will see presentlyhow the date became fixed in my memory), I was reading, for thethousandth time, the papers I was arranging, for the palace was sold toa stranger, and I was going to leave Rome and settle at Florence,intending to take with me twelve thousand francs I possessed, mylibrary, and the famous breviary, when, tired with my constant labor atthe same thing, and overcome by a heavy dinner I had eaten, my headdropped on my hands, and I fell asleep about three o’clock in theafternoon.

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  “I awoke as the clock was striking six. I raised my head; I was in utterdarkness. I rang for a light, but, as no one came, I determined to findone for myself. It was indeed but anticipating the simple manners whichI should soon be under the necessity of adopting. I took a wax-candle inone hand, and with the other groped about for a piece of paper (mymatch-box being empty), with which I proposed to get a light from thesmall flame still playing on the embers. Fearing, however, to make useof any valuable piece of paper, I hesitated for a moment, thenrecollected that I had seen in the famous breviary, which was on thetable beside me, an old paper quite yellow with age, and which hadserved as a marker for centuries, kept there by the request of theheirs. I felt for it, found it, twisted it up together, and putting itinto the expiring flame, set light to it.

  “But beneath my fingers, as if by magic, in proportion as the fireascended, I saw yellowish characters appear on the paper. I grasped itin my hand, put out the flame as quickly as I could, lighted my taper inthe fire itself, and opened the crumpled paper with inexpressibleemotion, recognizing, when I had done so, that these characters had beentraced in mysterious and sympathetic ink, only appearing when exposed tothe fire; nearly one-third of the paper had been consumed by the flame.It was that paper you read this morning; read it again, Dantès, and thenI will complete for you the incomplete words and unconnected sense.”

  Faria, with an air of triumph, offered the paper to Dantès, who thistime read the following words, traced with an ink of a reddish colorresembling rust:

  “This 25th day of April, 1498, be... Alexander VI., and fearing thatnot... he may desire to become my heir, and re... and Bentivoglio, whowere poisoned,... my sole heir, that I have bu... and has visited withme, that is, in... Island of Monte Cristo, all I poss... jewels,diamonds, gems; that I alone... may amount to nearly two mil... willfind on raising the twentieth ro... creek to the east in a right line.Two open... in these caves; the treasure is in the furthest a... whichtreasure I bequeath and leave en... as my sole heir. “25th April, 1498.“Cæs... “And now,” said the abbé, “read this other paper;” and hepresented to Dantès a second leaf with fragments of lines written on it,which Edmond read as follows:

  “...ing invited to dine by his Holiness ...content with making me payfor my hat, ...serves for me the fate of Cardinals Caprara ...I declareto my nephew, Guido Spada ...ried in a place he knows ...the caves ofthe small ...essed of ingots, gold, money, ...know of the existence ofthis treasure, which ...lions of Roman crowns, and which he ...ck fromthe small ...ings have been made ...ngle in the second; ...tire to him...ar † Spada.”

  Faria followed him with an excited look.

  “And now,” he said, when he saw that Dantès had read the last line, “putthe two fragments together, and judge for yourself.” Dantès obeyed, andthe conjointed pieces gave the following:

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  “This 25th day of April, 1498, be...ing invited to dine by his HolinessAlexander VI., and fearing that not...content with making me pay for myhat, he may desire to become my heir, and re...serves for me the fate ofCardinals Caprara and Bentivoglio, who were poisoned,...I declare to mynephew, Guido Spada, my sole heir, that I have bu...ried in a place heknows and has visited with me, that is, in...the caves of the smallIsland of Monte Cristo, all I poss...essed of ingots, gold, money,jewels, diamonds, gems; that I alone...know of the existence of thistreasure, which may amount to nearly two mil...lions of Roman crowns,and which he will find on raising the twentieth ro...ck from the smallcreek to the east in a right line. Two open...ings have been made inthese caves; the treasure is in the furthest a...ngle in the second;which treasure I bequeath and leave en...tire to him as my sole heir.“25th April, 1498. “Cæs...ar † Spada.”

  “Well, do you comprehend now?” inquired Faria.

  “It is the declaration of Cardinal Spada, and the will so long soughtfor,” replied Edmond, still incredulous.

  “Yes; a thousand times, yes!”

  “And who completed it as it now is?”

  “I did. Aided by the remaining fragment, I guessed the rest; measuringthe length of the lines by those of the paper, and divining the hiddenmeaning by means of what was in part revealed, as we are guided in acavern by the small ray of light above us.”

  “And what did you do when you arrived at this conclusion?”

  “I resolved to set out, and did set out at that very instant, carryingwith me the beginning of my great work, the unity of the Italiankingdom; but for some time the imperial police (who at this period,quite contrary to what Napoleon desired so soon as he had a son born tohim, wished for a partition of provinces) had their eyes on me; and myhasty departure, the cause of which they were unable to guess, havingaroused their suspicions, I was arrested at the very moment I wasleaving Piombino.

  “Now,” continued Faria, addressing Dantès with an almost paternalexpression, “now, my dear fellow, you know as much as I do myself. If weever escape together, half this treasure is yours; if I die here, andyou escape alone, the whole belongs to you.”

  “But,” inquired Dantès hesitating, “has this treasure no more legitimatepossessor in the world than ourselves?”

  “No, no, be easy on that score; the family is extinct. The last Count ofSpada, moreover, made me his heir, bequeathing to me this symbolicbreviary, he bequeathed to me all it contained; no, no, make your mindsatisfied on that point. If we lay hands on this fortune, we may enjoyit without remorse.”

  “And you say this treasure amounts to——”

  “Two millions of Roman crowns; nearly thirteen millions of our money.”2

  “Impossible!” said Dantès, staggered at the enormous amount.

  “Impossible? and why?” asked the old man. “The Spada family was one ofthe oldest and most powerful families of the fifteenth century; and inthose times, when other opportunities for investment were wanting, suchaccumulations of gold and jewels were by no means rare; there are atthis day Roman families perishing of hunger, though possessed of nearlya million in diamonds and jewels, handed down by entail, and which theycannot touch.”

  Edmond thought he was in a dream—he wavered between incredulity and joy.

  “I have only kept this secret so long from you,” continued Faria, “thatI might test your character, and then surprise you. Had we escapedbefore my attack of catalepsy, I should have conducted you to MonteCristo; now,” he added, with a sigh, “it is you who will conduct methither. Well, Dantès, you do not thank me?”

  “This treasure belongs to you, my dear friend,” replied Dantès, “and toyou only. I have no right to it. I am no relation of yours.”

  “Yo
u are my son, Dantès,” exclaimed the old man. “You are the child ofmy captivity. My profession condemns me to celibacy. God has sent you tome to console, at one and the same time, the man who could not be afather, and the prisoner who could not get free.”

  And Faria extended the arm of which alone the use remained to him to theyoung man, who threw himself upon his neck and wept.