The Count of Monte Cristo

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that none but the wicked prosper. Ah," continued Caderousse, speaking
in the highly colored language of the south, "the world grows worse and
worse. Why does not God, if he really hates the wicked, as he is said to
do, send down brimstone and fire, and consume them altogether?"

"You speak as though you had loved this young Dantes," observed the
abbe, without taking any notice of his companion's vehemence.

"And so I did," replied Caderousse; "though once, I confess, I envied
him his good fortune. But I swear to you, sir, I swear to you, by
everything a man holds dear, I have, since then, deeply and sincerely
lamented his unhappy fate." There was a brief silence, during which
the fixed, searching eye of the abbe was employed in scrutinizing the
agitated features of the inn-keeper.

"You knew the poor lad, then?" continued Caderousse.