The Count of Monte Cristo

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curious to study the different ways by which the soul and body can part;
and how, according to their different characters, temperaments, and even
the different customs of their countries, different persons bear the
transition from life to death, from existence to annihilation? As for
myself, I can assure you of one thing,--the more men you see die, the
easier it becomes to die yourself; and in my opinion, death may be a
torture, but it is not an expiation."

"I do not quite understand you," replied Franz; "pray explain your
meaning, for you excite my curiosity to the highest pitch."

"Listen," said the count, and deep hatred mounted to his face, as the
blood would to the face of any other. "If a man had by unheard-of
and excruciating tortures destroyed your father, your mother, your
betrothed,--a being who, when torn from you, left a desolation, a wound
that never closes, in your breast,--do you think the reparation that
society gives you is sufficient when it interposes the knife of the