Page:The Count of Monte-Cristo (1887 Volume 1).djvu/204

184 I had been confined for three years in the fortress of Fenestrelle. In the year 1811 I was transferred from Piedmont to France. It was at this period I learned that the destiny which seemed subservient to every wish formed by Napoleon had bestowed on him a son, named king of Borne even in his cradle. I was very far then from expecting the change you have just informed me of; namely, that four years afterward, this colossus of power would be overthrown. Then, who reigns in France at this moment—Napoleon II.?"

"No, Louis XVIII.!"

"The brother of Louis XVI.! How inscrutable are the ways of Providence—for what great and mysterious purpose has it pleased Heaven to abase the man once so elevated, and raise up the individual so cast down?"

Dantès' whole attention was riveted on the man who could thus forget his own misfortunes while occupying himself with the destinies of others.

"But so it was," continued he, "in England. After Charles I, came Cromwell; to Cromwell succeeded Charles II., and then James II., who was succeeded by some son-in-law or relation, who became king; then new concessions to the people, a constitution, and liberty! Ah, my friend!" said the abbé, turning toward Dantès, and surveying him with the kindling gaze of a prophet, "mark what I say! You are young, and may see my words come to pass, that such will be the case with France—you will see it, I say."

"Probably, if ever I get out of prison!"

"True," replied Faria, "we are prisoners; but I forget this sometimes, and there are even moments when my mental vision transports me beyond these walls, and I fancy myself at liberty."

"But wherefore are you here?"

"Because in 1807 I meditated the very scheme Napoleon wished to realize in 1811; because, like Machiavel, I desired to alter the political face of Italy, and instead of allowing it to be split up into a quantity of petty principalities, each held by some weak or tyrannical ruler, I sought to form one large, compact, and powerful empire; and, lastly, because I fancied I had found my Cæsar Borgia in a crowned simpleton, who feigned to enter into my views only to betray me. It was projected equally by Alexander VI, and Clement VII., but it will never succeed now, for they attempted it fruitlessly, and Napoleon was unable to complete his work. Italy seems fated to be unlucky."

The old man uttered these last words in a tone of deep dejection, and his head fell listlessly on his breast.

To Dantès all this was perfectly incomprehensible. In the first