The Count of Monte Cristo

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deprived of meat. This would have been a method of reckoning time, had
not Dantes long ceased to do so. Having poured out the soup, the turnkey
retired. Dantes wished to ascertain whether his neighbor had really
ceased to work. He listened--all was silent, as it had been for the last
three days. Dantes sighed; it was evident that his neighbor distrusted
him. However, he toiled on all the night without being discouraged; but
after two or three hours he encountered an obstacle. The iron made no
impression, but met with a smooth surface; Dantes touched it, and found
that it was a beam. This beam crossed, or rather blocked up, the hole
Dantes had made; it was necessary, therefore, to dig above or under
it. The unhappy young man had not thought of this. "O my God, my God!"
murmured he, "I have so earnestly prayed to you, that I hoped my prayers
had been heard. After having deprived me of my liberty, after having
deprived me of death, after having recalled me to existence, my God,
have pity on me, and do not let me die in despair!"

"Who talks of God and despair at the same time?" said a voice that