The Count of Monte Cristo

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scrutiny on the immense space beneath him; then, as his eye caught
sight of him in the mantle, he grasped a floating mass of thickly matted
boughs, and glided down by their help to within three or four feet
of the ground, and then leaped lightly on his feet. The man who had
performed this daring act with so much indifference wore the Transtevere
costume. "I beg your excellency's pardon for keeping you waiting," said
the man, in the Roman dialect, "but I don't think I'm many minutes after
my time, ten o'clock has just struck on the Lateran."

"Say not a word about being late," replied the stranger in purest
Tuscan; "'tis I who am too soon. But even if you had caused me to wait
a little while, I should have felt quite sure that the delay was not
occasioned by any fault of yours."

"Your excellency is perfectly right in so thinking," said the man; "I
came here direct from the Castle of St. Angelo, and I had an immense
deal of trouble before I could get a chance to speak to Beppo."