t, and for which I am most grateful,--at the moment of
separating from you forever, I wish you all the happiness and all the
prosperity you so well deserve. My son, I bless thee!" The young man
cast himself on his knees, leaning his head against the old man's bed.

"Listen, now, to what I say in this my dying moment. The treasure of the
Spadas exists. God grants me the boon of vision unrestricted by time or
space. I see it in the depths of the inner cavern. My eyes pierce the
inmost recesses of the earth, and are dazzled at the sight of so much
riches. If you do escape, remember that the poor abbe, whom all the
world called mad, was not so. Hasten to Monte Cristo--avail yourself
of the fortune--for you have indeed suffered long enough." A violent
convulsion attacked the old man. Dantes raised his head and saw Faria's
eyes injected with blood. It seemed as if a flow of blood had ascended
from the chest to the head.

"Adieu, adieu!" murmured the old man, clasping Edmond's hand
convulsively--"adieu!"

"Oh, no,--no, not yet," he cried; "do not forsake me! Oh, succor him!
Help--help--help!"

"Hush--hush!" murmured the dying man, "that they may not separate us if
you save me!"

"You are right. Oh, yes, yes; be assured I shall save you! Besides,
although you suffer much, you do not seem to be in such agony as you
were before."

"Do not mistake. I suffer less because there is in me less strength to
endure. At your age we have faith in life; it is the privilege of
youth to believe and hope, but old men see death more clearly. Oh, 'tis
here--'tis here--'tis over--my sight is gone--my senses fail! Your hand,
Dantes! Adieu--adieu!" And raising himself by a final effort, in which
he summoned all his faculties, he said,--"Monte Cristo, forget not Monte
Cristo!" And he fell back on the bed. The crisis was terrible, and a
rigid form with twisted limbs, swollen eyelids, and lips flecked with
bloody foam, lay on the bed of torture, in place of the intellectual
being who so lately rested there.

Dantes took the lamp, placed it on a projecting stone above the bed,
whence its tremulous light fell with strange and fantastic ray on the
distorted countenance and motionless, stiffened body. With steady gaze
he awaited confidently the moment for administering the restorative.

When he believed that the right moment had arrived, he took the knife,
pried open the teeth, which offered less resistance than before, counted
one after the oth