The Count of Monte Cristo

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the prisoner increased in proportion to the terror of M. de Villefort.
"But how have you become acquainted with all these details?" asked the
president.

"I will tell you, Mr. President. A man who had sworn vengeance against
my father, and had long watched his opportunity to kill him, had
introduced himself that night into the garden in which my father buried
me. He was concealed in a thicket; he saw my father bury something in
the ground, and stabbed him; then thinking the deposit might contain
some treasure he turned up the ground, and found me still living. The
man carried me to the foundling asylum, where I was registered under the
number 37. Three months afterwards, a woman travelled from Rogliano to
Paris to fetch me, and having claimed me as her son, carried me away.
Thus, you see, though born in Paris, I was brought up in Corsica."

There was a moment's silence, during which one could have fancied
the hall empty, so profound was the stillness. "Proceed," said the