Dumas' Romances (Volume 15); The Count of Monte Cristo (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1894. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER XVII. The Abbe's Chamber. After having passed with tolerable ease through the subterranean passage, which, however, did not permit of their holding themselves erect, the two friends reached the further end of the corridor, into which the cell of the abbe opened; from that point the opening became much narrower, barely permitting an individual to creep through on his hands and knees. The floor of the abbe's cell was paved, and it had been by raising one of the stones in the most obscure corner that Faria had been able to commence the laborious task of which Dantes had witnessed the completion. As he entered the chamber of his friend, Dantes cast around one eager and searching glance in quest of the expected marvels; but nothing more than common met his view. "It is well," said the abbe, "we have some hours before us; it is now just a quarter past twelve o'clock." Instinctively Dantes turned round to observe by what watch or clock the abbe had been able so accurately to specify the hour. "Look at this ray of light, which enters by my window," said the abbe, "and then observe the lines traced on the wall. Well; by means of these lines, which are in accordance with the double motion of the earth, as well as the ellipses it describes round the sun, I am enabled to ascertain the precise hour with more minuteness than if I possessed a watch, for that might be broken or deranged in its movements, while the sun and earth never vary in their appointed paths." This last explanation was wholly lost upon Dantes, who had always imagined, from seeing the sun rise from behind the mountains and set in the Mediterranean, that it moved, and not the earth. A double movement in the globe he inhabited, and of which he could feel nothing, appeared to him perfectly impossible; ...