The Count of Monte Cristo

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"But they believe I am shut up alone here."

"That makes no difference."

"And you say that you dug your way a distance of fifty feet to get
here?"

"I do; that is about the distance that separates your chamber from mine;
only, unfortunately, I did not curve aright; for want of the necessary
geometrical instruments to calculate my scale of proportion, instead of
taking an ellipsis of forty feet, I made it fifty. I expected, as I told
you, to reach the outer wall, pierce through it, and throw myself into
the sea; I have, however, kept along the corridor on which your chamber
opens, instead of going beneath it. My labor is all in vain, for I find
that the corridor looks into a courtyard filled with soldiers."

"That's true," said Dantes; "but the corridor you speak of only bounds