The Count of Monte Cristo

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during which his prayers were frequent, if not heartfelt. Sometimes he
was delirious, and fancied he saw an old man stretched on a pallet; he,
also, was dying of hunger.

On the fourth, he was no longer a man, but a living corpse. He had
picked up every crumb that had been left from his former meals, and was
beginning to eat the matting which covered the floor of his cell. Then
he entreated Peppino, as he would a guardian angel, to give him food;
he offered him 1,000 francs for a mouthful of bread. But Peppino did not
answer. On the fifth day he dragged himself to the door of the cell.

"Are you not a Christian?" he said, falling on his knees. "Do you wish
to assassinate a man who, in the eyes of heaven, is a brother? Oh, my
former friends, my former friends!" he murmured, and fell with his face
to the ground. Then rising in despair, he exclaimed, "The chief, the
chief!"