The Count of Monte Cristo

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experienced death, 'is it painful to die?'"

Monte Cristo looked upon Morrel with indescribable tenderness. "Yes,"
he said, "yes, doubtless it is painful, if you violently break the outer
covering which obstinately begs for life. If you plunge a dagger into
your flesh, if you insinuate a bullet into your brain, which the least
shock disorders,--then certainly, you will suffer pain, and you will
repent quitting a life for a repose you have bought at so dear a price."

"Yes; I know that there is a secret of luxury and pain in death, as well
as in life; the only thing is to understand it."

"You have spoken truly, Maximilian; according to the care we bestow upon
it, death is either a friend who rocks us gently as a nurse, or an enemy
who violently drags the soul from the body. Some day, when the world
is much older, and when mankind will be masters of all the destructive
powers in nature, to serve for the general good of humanity; when