The Count of Monte Cristo

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humor); 'do you think I am going to change the life I lead for your mode
of existence--my agreeable indolence for the hard and precarious toil
you impose on yourself, exposed to the bitter frost at night, and the
scorching heat by day, compelled to conceal yourself, and when you are
perceived, receive a volley of bullets, all to earn a paltry sum? Why, I
have as much money as I want; mother Assunta always furnishes me when I
ask for it! You see that I should be a fool to accept your offer.' The
arguments, and his audacity, perfectly stupefied me. Benedetto rejoined
his associates, and I saw him from a distance point me out to them as a
fool."

"Sweet child," murmured Monte Cristo.

"Oh, had he been my own son," replied Bertuccio, "or even my nephew, I
would have brought him back to the right road, for the knowledge that
you are doing your duty gives you strength, but the idea that I was
striking a child whose father I had killed, made it impossible for me