The Count of Monte Cristo

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"My father, my father!" cried the young man, "why should you not live?"

"If I live, all would be changed; if I live, interest would be converted
into doubt, pity into hostility; if I live I am only a man who his
broken his word, failed in his engagements--in fact, only a bankrupt.
If, on the contrary, I die, remember, Maximilian, my corpse is that of
an honest but unfortunate man. Living, my best friends would avoid my
house; dead, all Marseilles will follow me in tears to my last home.
Living, you would feel shame at my name; dead, you may raise your head
and say, 'I am the son of him you killed, because, for the first time,
he has been compelled to break his word.'"

The young man uttered a groan, but appeared resigned.

"And now," said Morrel, "leave me alone, and endeavor to keep your
mother and sister away."