The Count of Monte Cristo

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"From day to day he lived on alone, and more and more solitary. M.
Morrel and Mercedes came to see him, but his door was closed; and,
although I was certain he was at home, he would not make any answer.
One day, when, contrary to his custom, he had admitted Mercedes, and the
poor girl, in spite of her own grief and despair, endeavored to console
him, he said to her,--'Be assured, my dear daughter, he is dead; and
instead of expecting him, it is he who is awaiting us; I am quite happy,
for I am the oldest, and of course shall see him first.' However well
disposed a person may be, why you see we leave off after a time seeing
persons who are in sorrow, they make one melancholy; and so at last
old Dantes was left all to himself, and I only saw from time to time
strangers go up to him and come down again with some bundle they tried
to hide; but I guessed what these bundles were, and that he sold by
degrees what he had to pay for his subsistence. At length the poor old
fellow reached the end of all he had; he owed three quarters' rent, and
they threatened to turn him out; he begged for another week, which was
granted to him. I know this, because the landlord came into my apartment