I replied, 'Listen,--I have always heard of providence, and yet I have
never seen him, or anything that resembles him, or which can make me
believe that he exists. I wish to be providence myself, for I feel that
the most beautiful, noblest, most sublime thing in the world, is
to recompense and punish.' Satan bowed his head, and groaned. 'You
mistake,' he said, 'providence does exist, only you have never seen him,
because the child of God is as invisible as the parent. You have seen
nothing that resembles him, because he works by secret springs, and
moves by hidden ways. All I can do for you is to make you one of the
agents of that providence.' The bargain was concluded. I may sacrifice
my soul, but what matters it?" added Monte Cristo. "If the thing were
to do again, I would again do it." Villefort looked at Monte Cristo with
extreme amazement. "Count," he inquired, "have you any relations?"

"No, sir, I am alone in the world."

"So much the worse."

"Why?" asked Monte Cristo.

"Because then you might witness a spectacle calculated to break down
your pride. You say you fear nothing but death?"

"I did not say that I feared it; I only said that death alone could
check the execution of my plans."

"And old age?"

"My end will be achieved before I grow old."

"And madness?"

"I have been nearly mad; and you know the axiom,--non bis in idem. It
is an axiom of criminal law, and, consequently, you understand its full
application."

"Sir," continued Villefort, "there is something to fear besides
death, old age, and madness. For instance, there is apoplexy--that
lightning-stroke which strikes but does not destroy you, and yet which
brings everything to an end. You are still yourself as now, and yet you
are yourself no longer; you who, like Ariel, verge on the angelic, are
but an inert mass, which, like Caliban, verges on the brutal; and this
is called in human tongues, as I tell you, neither more nor less than
apoplexy. Come, if so you will, count, and continue this conversation
at my house, any day you may be willing to see an adversary capable of
understanding and anxious to refute you, and I will show you my father,
M. Noirtier de Villefort, one of the most fiery Jacobins of the French
Revolution; that is to say, he had the most remarkable audacity,
seconded by a most powerful organization--a man who has not, perhaps,
like yourself seen all the kingdoms of the earth, but who has helped to
overturn one of the g