The Count of Monte Cristo

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hundred years beneath these almost impervious depths, for a revolution
carried away the emperor who wished to make the trial, and only left the
documents proving the manufacture of the jars and their descent into the
sea. At the end of two hundred years the documents were found, and they
thought of bringing up the jars. Divers descended in machines, made
expressly on the discovery, into the bay where they were thrown; but of
ten three only remained, the rest having been broken by the waves. I am
fond of these jars, upon which, perhaps, misshapen, frightful monsters
have fixed their cold, dull eyes, and in which myriads of small fish
have slept, seeking a refuge from the pursuit of their enemies."
Meanwhile, Danglars, who had cared little for curiosities, was
mechanically tearing off the blossoms of a splendid orange-tree, one
after another. When he had finished with the orange-tree, he began at
the cactus; but this, not being so easily plucked as the orange-tree,
pricked him dreadfully. He shuddered, and rubbed his eyes as though
awaking from a dream.