The Count of Monte Cristo

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"Yes, I speak five of the modern tongues--that is to say, German,
French, Italian, English, and Spanish; by the aid of ancient Greek I
learned modern Greek--I don't speak it so well as I could wish, but I am
still trying to improve myself."

"Improve yourself!" repeated Dantes; "why, how can you manage to do so?"

"Why, I made a vocabulary of the words I knew; turned, returned, and
arranged them, so as to enable me to express my thoughts through
their medium. I know nearly one thousand words, which is all that is
absolutely necessary, although I believe there are nearly one hundred
thousand in the dictionaries. I cannot hope to be very fluent, but I
certainly should have no difficulty in explaining my wants and wishes;
and that would be quite as much as I should ever require."

Stronger grew the wonder of Dantes, who almost fancied he had to do
with one gifted with supernatural powers; still hoping to find some