The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Still it belongs to government, and I ought not to waste it; but,
having received the signal that I might rest for an hour" (here he
glanced at the sun-dial, for there was everything in the enclosure of
Montlhery, even a sun-dial), "and having ten minutes before me, and my
strawberries being ripe, when a day longer--by-the-by, sir, do you think
dormice eat them?"

"Indeed, I should think not," replied Monte Cristo; "dormice are bad
neighbors for us who do not eat them preserved, as the Romans did."

"What? Did the Romans eat them?" said the gardener--"ate dormice?"

"I have read so in Petronius," said the count.

"Really? They can't be nice, though they do say 'as fat as a dormouse.'
It is not a wonder they are fat, sleeping all day, and only waking to
eat all night. Listen. Last year I had four apricots--they stole one, I