The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Then, you, too, will be punished, for you did not do your duty as a
priest--you should have prevented Benedetto from killing me."

"I?" said the count, with a smile which petrified the dying man, "when
you had just broken your knife against the coat of mail which protected
my breast! Yet perhaps if I had found you humble and penitent, I might
have prevented Benedetto from killing you; but I found you proud and
blood-thirsty, and I left you in the hands of God."

"I do not believe there is a God," howled Caderousse; "you do not
believe it; you lie--you lie!"

"Silence," said the abbe; "you will force the last drop of blood from
your veins. What! you do not believe in God when he is striking you
dead? you will not believe in him, who requires but a prayer, a word, a
tear, and he will forgive? God, who might have directed the assassin's
dagger so as to end your career in a moment, has given you this quarter