The Count of Monte Cristo

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"At any rate," said Albert, "whatever disease or doctor may have killed
her, M. de Villefort, or rather, Mademoiselle Valentine,--or, still
rather, our friend Franz, inherits a magnificent fortune, amounting, I
believe, to 80,000 livres per annum."

"And this fortune will be doubled at the death of the old Jacobin,
Noirtier."

"That is a tenacious old grandfather," said Beauchamp. "Tenacem
propositi virum. I think he must have made an agreement with death to
outlive all his heirs, and he appears likely to succeed. He resembles
the old Conventionalist of '93, who said to Napoleon, in 1814, 'You bend
because your empire is a young stem, weakened by rapid growth. Take
the Republic for a tutor; let us return with renewed strength to the
battle-field, and I promise you 500,000 soldiers, another Marengo, and
a second Austerlitz. Ideas do not become extinct, sire; they slumber
sometimes, but only revive the stronger before they sleep entirely.'