The Count of Monte Cristo

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I heard every night the cry which awoke me, shuddering and cold. And
I, too, Edmond--oh! believe me--guilty as I was--oh, yes, I, too, have
suffered much!"

"Have you known what it is to have your father starve to death in your
absence?" cried Monte Cristo, thrusting his hands into his hair; "have
you seen the woman you loved giving her hand to your rival, while you
were perishing at the bottom of a dungeon?"

"No," interrupted Mercedes, "but I have seen him whom I loved on the
point of murdering my son." Mercedes uttered these words with such deep
anguish, with an accent of such intense despair, that Monte Cristo could
not restrain a sob. The lion was daunted; the avenger was conquered.
"What do you ask of me?" said he,--"your son's life? Well, he shall
live!" Mercedes uttered a cry which made the tears start from Monte
Cristo's eyes; but these tears disappeared almost instantaneously, for,
doubtless, God had sent some angel to collect them--far more precious