ath, commit acts of useless violence, and you might fall a victim."

"Take all needful precautions," replied the inspector.

Two soldiers were accordingly sent for, and the inspector descended
a stairway, so foul, so humid, so dark, as to be loathsome to sight,
smell, and respiration.

"Oh," cried the inspector, "who can live here?"

"A most dangerous conspirator, a man we are ordered to keep the most
strict watch over, as he is daring and resolute."

"He is alone?"

"Certainly."

"How long has he been there?"

"Nearly a year."

"Was he placed here when he first arrived?"

"No; not until he attempted to kill the turnkey, who took his food to
him."

"To kill the turnkey?"

"Yes, the very one who is lighting us. Is it not true, Antoine?" asked
the governor.

"True enough; he wanted to kill me!" returned the turnkey.

"He must be mad," said the inspector.

"He is worse than that,--he is a devil!" returned the turnkey.

"Shall I complain of him?" demanded the inspector.

"Oh, no; it is useless. Besides, he is almost mad now, and in another
year he will be quite so."

"So much the better for him,--he will suffer less," said the inspector.
He was, as this remark shows, a man full of philanthropy, and in every
way fit for his office.

"You are right, sir," replied the governor; "and this remark proves that
you have deeply considered the subject. Now we have in a dungeon about
twenty feet distant, and to which you descend by another stair, an abbe,
formerly leader of a party in Italy, who has been here since 1811, and
in 1813 he went mad, and the change is astonishing. He used to weep, he
now laughs; he grew thin, he now grows fat. You had better see him, for
his madness is amusing."

"I will see them both," returned the inspector; "I must conscientiously
perform my duty." This was the inspector's first visit; he wished to
display his authority.

"Let us visit this one first," added he.

"By all means," replied the governor, and he signed to the turnkey to
open the door. At the sound of the key turning in the lock, and the
creaking of the hinges, Dantes, who was crouched in a corner of the
dungeon, whence he could see the ray of light that came through a narrow
iron grating above, raised his head. Seeing a stranger, escorted by two
turnkeys holding torches and accompanied by two soldiers, and to whom
the governor spoke bareheaded, Dantes, who guessed the truth, and that
the moment to address himsel