Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Treasure

Next morning, when Dantès returned to the room of his fellow prisoner, he saw Faria sitting there with a peaceful look on his face.A ray of sunlight streams in through the narrow window of the cell, and in his left hand he holds a sheet of open paper, the reader remembers him as the only hand left to use.Because this piece of paper had been rolled up before, it became a roll and it was not easy to open.He said nothing, but showed Dantès the paper. "What's that?" asked the latter. "Look." The priest smiled. "I have looked carefully," said Dantès, "and all I see is a half-burned sheet of paper, with some cursive script on it, which seems to have been written with a peculiar ink."

"This piece of paper, my friend," said Faria, "now that I have tested you, I can now tell you my secret. This piece of paper is my treasure. From this day, half of this treasure It belongs to you." A burst of cold sweat broke out on Dantès' forehead.Up to this day, after such a long time, he had avoided talking to the priest about his treasure, because it was the root of his madness. Edmond, who was naturally cautious, took care not to touch this painful chord, and Faria was also silent on this point.He regarded this silence of the priest as a recovery of reason, but now, after such a painful upheaval, Faria uttered these words, which showed that his insanity had returned.

"Your treasure?" asked Dantès stammeringly. Faria smiled. "Yes," said he, "you have a noble heart, Edmond. For I can see what is going on in your mind when you look pale and trembling. No, don't worry, I am not mad. The Treasures do exist, Dantès. If I cannot have them, you can have them, yes, you. No one believed me because they thought I was crazy.But you, you know I'm not crazy, you'd believe it if you wanted to. " "Oops!" murmured Edmund to himself, "his old sickness is coming back! It's the only thing I've ever had." Then he said aloud, "My dear friend, you must have been tired at the time of your attack." Now, you rest for a while, okay? If you like, I'll listen to you tomorrow. I just hope to take good care of you today. And," he added, "the treasure is not very urgent to us. .”

"Very urgent, Edmond!" answered the priest. "Who knows if I'll have a third attack tomorrow or the day after tomorrow? Then it will all be over. These treasures will make ten families very rich, and I've often thought, let them be buried forever, decided I can't let those who persecute me get them. Every time I think of this kind of thought, although I can't help feeling a little bitter, I still feel quite happy. This kind of thought also satisfies my desire for revenge. I was imprisoned here in this dark prison night. In the despair of life, I am slowly savoring the joy of it. But now, because of my love for you, I have forgiven the world.

Now, seeing that you are still very young and have a bright future, I think that if this secret is revealed, you will have all the happiness. Come own such a great treasure. " Edmund turned his head away and sighed. "You still won't believe it, Edmond," continued Faria. "My words don't convince you yet. It seems you need evidence. Well, then, read this paper, which I have never shown to anyone else." "To-morrow, my dear friend," said Edmond, who would not submit to the priest's madness. "We've agreed to talk about it until tomorrow."

"Then save it for tomorrow, but read the paper today." "Don't make him angry," thought Edmund, and taking the half-missed paper, which had apparently been burned by some accident, read— Today is the invitation of Alexander VI in April 1498, I have been summoned to a banquet, I have offered money, and I hope to become my heir, I will attribute Caprera and Pintevoglio to those who were poisoned), I hereby declare to my pada that I have been in a place known to you (in the cave of the isle of Monte Cristo) silver bars, gold nuggets, precious stones, diamonds, more than a million dollars, the total value of which is about two quarters of Rome. There are two entrances to the twentieth rock on the right hand side of Dongxiaogang, Kaidao; the treasure is at the entrance of the second cave, which is the only heir to whom I have all left.

Kay April 25, 1498 "How was it?" asked Faria, when the young man had finished reading. "But," replied Dantès, "what I see is only a half-burnt sheet, with broken sentences of unknown meaning." "Yes, my friend, to you, since you have only read it for the first time. Not so with me, who have studied it with painstaking efforts and many nights, rewriting every sentence and filling every meaning. " "Do you think you've found the meaning of your other half?" "I'm quite sure, and you can judge for yourself, but let me tell you about the history of this piece of paper."

"Hush!" cried Dantès softly. "There are footsteps! I'm leaving!" Saying that Dantès had slipped like a snake into the narrow passage, he was glad to escape the story and the explanation, which only convinced him that his fellow sufferer was ill again; and as for Faria, In his panic he regained a kind of vigor, pushed the stone back into place with his feet, and covered it with a straw mat so that it would not be seen. It was the warden who came, and he had learned of Faria's condition from the jailer, so he came to see him in person. Faria sat up to meet him, avoiding as much as possible to arouse suspicion, and concealed from the superintendent the fact of his half-paralysis.He feared that the warden would feel compassion for him.Move him to a better cell that would separate him from his young companions.Fortunately, this kind of thing did not happen. When the warden left him, he thought that the poor lunatic was just feeling a little unwell, and he felt a little sympathetic to him in his heart.

But at this moment, Edmund was sitting on the bed, holding his head in his hands, trying to concentrate on his memory.Ever since he had known Faria, everything had seemed so sane, great, and sublime in Faria, and he could not understand why a man who was so wise in every way should lose his reason at one point.Is Faria deluded by his treasure, or has the whole world misunderstood Faria? Dantès remained in his cell all day long, not daring to return to his friend, thinking that he would be able to procrastinate a little longer, to slow himself down, to prove that the priest was really mad, and how he was afraid to prove it. a little!

In the evening, after the regular prison inspection, Faria did not see the young man coming, so he tried to go through the passage by himself.He couldn't move one of his legs, and he couldn't use one of his arms anymore, so he had to drag himself over.Edmond shuddered at the sound of the priest's painful struggle.He had to force himself to come forward to help him, because otherwise the old man would not have been able to get through the little opening that led to Dantès' room. "Here I am, chasing you desperately," he smiled kindly at him. "You think you can escape my bounty, but it's no use. Listen to me."

Seeing that there was no escape, Edmund helped the abbé sit on his bed, and dragged himself past him to sit beside him. "You know," said the priest, "that I am secretary and close friend to Cardinal Spada, the last of the line of Prince Spada. All the happiness of my life is due to this poor man. From your lordship. Although I have often heard people say, 'As rich as Spada is, he is not rich, and there are rumors outside that he lives under the false name of being rich.His palace is my paradise.I had taught his nephew, who is now dead. When he was left alone, I returned to him, determined to repay the kindness he had shown me for ten years by tending him.I can say that I know everything about the cardinal's family affairs.I have often seen my noble lord laboriously annotating ancient books, rummaging through the dust for the manuscripts of his ancestors.One day, when I complained that he should not be exhausting himself physically and mentally from this useless search, he looked at me, and then with a wry smile opened a large volume dealing with the history of the city of Rome.He turned to the twenty-ninth chapter of the book, which describes the life of Pope Alexander VI, and there are these words in it, which I will never forget. "'The Great Romanian War is over. Caesar Buccia, having completed his conquest, was in need of money to buy all of Italy. The Pope, in need of money to get rid of Louis XII., King of France, must resort to some favorable transaction, However, in the situation of poverty everywhere in Italy, this matter is extremely embarrassing. His Majesty the Pope thought of an idea and decided to canonize two cardinals'". "If two great men were chosen in Rome, especially rich men, the Holy Father [Pope Alexander VI] would gain the following benefits from the transaction. First, he could transfer the two cardinals to The second is that the two high hats of the cardinal can also be sold for a lot of money. There is a third advantage of this transaction, which will be mentioned below. The Pope and Caesar Buccia first found The two future cardinals, they are Jean Rospiglioser and Caesar Spada. Wealthy. Both are extremely honored by the Pope's favor. They are both very ambitious. Once this was established, Caesar Buccia soon found another person who paid for the cardinal's office. It turned out that Rospiglioise and Spada had been paid to become cardinals, and before they had been formally elevated, eight others had been paid for the offices previously entrusted to them by the bishops, and the eight The one hundred thousand Aiju went into the coffers of the seller of this transaction. "Now comes the last part of the transaction. The Pope has given Rospiglios and Sparta the medal of a cardinal, and advised them to sell all their real estate for cash, and to settle in Rome. Come down, the pope and Caesar Buccia also gave a banquet for the two cardinals. This is a dispute between the Holy Father and his son [referring to Caesar Buccia.] Caesar can use his mind against him A practice of an old friend of mine. That is, the famous key, which they asked someone to take to unlock a designated cupboard. There was a little iron spike on the key, and the It was left by the locksmith's negligence. The lock was so hard to open that when the man tried to open the cupboard, the thorn in the key pierced his skin, and he was bound to die the next day. Then there was the lion's head ring, which Caesar wore whenever he shook hands. The lion's head would bite the hand that gave grace, and after twenty-four hours, the A small wound can kill. So Caesar suggested to his father, that either the two cardinals should be opened a cupboard, or that they should each shake hands affectionately. But Alexander VI replied, : 'Thinking of the venerable cardinals Rospiglioise and Spada, let's not worry about the cost of a dinner. I always feel that we can get their money. And, you Forget, Caesar, that indigestion strikes at once, whereas a prick or a bite takes a day or two to see results.' Caesar relented at this blunt remark. The two cardinals would therefore was invited to dinner. "The banquet was held in one of the Pope's vineyards near the Palais Saint-Pierre-Eryslan, and the two cardinals had long heard that it was a very quiet and lovely place. The Rose Piglios was flattered and delighted. , he put on his best clothes and prepared to go to dinner. Spada was a very cautious man, he had only one nephew, a promising young officer, and he was so fond of him that he took out his pen and and wrote his will. Then he sent for his nephew to wait for him near the vineyard, but the servants did not seem to find him." Spada was well aware of the significance of this invitation.Roman civilization had advanced so much since Christianity that there would no longer be a centurion delivering a tyrant's message: 'Caesar sends you dead! ’ Instead, a special envoy sent by the Pope said with a smile: ‘Your Majesty the Pope invites you to a banquet. '" Spada set off at about two o'clock to the vineyards of the Palais Saint-Pierre de Crian. The Pope was already waiting for him. The first person Spada saw was his man in full costume. Nephew, and Caesar Buccia, who stared at him with sarcasm. Spada's face immediately turned green, while Caesar looked at him with a mocking look, proving that all was right. As expected, the net has already been laid. They began to eat, and Spada only had time to ask his nephew if he had received his message. The nephew replied no, and he already fully understood the meaning of this question But it was too late, for he had already drank the glass of wine which the Pope's steward had specially brought before him. At the same time, Spada saw another bottle of wine in front of him, and he was persuaded to drink several large glasses. An hour later, the doctor pronounced that they had both died of poisoning caused by the goat mold. Spada died at the gate of the vineyard. His nephew died at the gate of his own house, having done Some gestures, but his wife did not understand the meaning. "Caesar and the pope were eager to seize the inheritance, under the pretext of finding the papers of the deceased. But the inheritance ended therein, that is, on a small piece of paper, where Spada wrote: I give to my beloved nephew my treasury and books, of which I have a copy of my Golden Horn Prayer Book, which I hope will be well preserved and borrowed as a souvenir of my beloved uncle. The snatchers searched everywhere, looked through the prayer book carefully, and checked the furniture over and over again. They couldn't help being surprised, it turned out that this uncle Sparta, who was famous for being rich, was actually a rich man. But he was the poorest uncle.When it comes to treasures, there are none other than those scientific treasures in libraries and laboratories.This is how it happened: Caesar and his father searched, searched, and scoured everywhere, but found nothing, or very little, gold bars of a few thousand aces, and about the same amount in cash. But before he died, the nephew had time to say a word to his wife: "Look carefully in my uncle's papers. There is a real will in it." '" They searched again, even more thoroughly than the two dignified heirs, but still in vain. There were two palaces and a vineyard behind the palace, but the real estate was not so valuable at that time, and could not satisfy the pope and His son's appetite, those two palaces and that vineyard are still in the family. Time flies, Alexander VI is dead, poisoned, you know how it was by mistake. Caesar was poisoned at the same time , but his skin did not become the color of snake skin, the poison only made his skin a lot of spots, as if covered with a piece of tiger skin. So he was forced to leave Rome, in a spiritual historian Killed inexplicably in a little battle of the forgotten night. After the death of the Pope and the exile of his son, it was thought that the Spurtas would flourish again as they had in the days of their Cardinals, but in fact Not so. The Spadas were still barely getting by, and the dark affair was shrouded in mist. The general rumor was that Caesar, more political than his father, had wrested from the Pope. The fortunes of the two cardinals have been taken. And by two I mean the Cardinal Ross Piglioser, who, because of his lack of preparation, has been completely robbed." "So far," said Faria, interrupting himself, "you must find this very absurd?" "Oh, my friend," said Dantès, "on the contrary, I seem to be reading a book of the most amusing stories, please go on." "As I went on, the Spadas were getting used to this mediocrity. Years passed, and some of their descendants became soldiers, some diplomats, some Became priests, some became bankers, some became rich, some went bankrupt. I am now speaking of the last of the family, the Count of Spada, whose secretary I used to hear When he complained that his title was too disproportionate to his property, I advised him to put all his property into fixed deposits. He did so, and his income was doubled. The famous prayer book is still owned by this It was kept by the family and is now in the earl's possession. It was handed down from father to son, and it became a real heirloom because of that sentence in the will I found. Treasure, it is preserved with superstitious reverence by the people of the clan. The capital letters on this book are written in gold and silver colors, and the whole book is beautiful Gothic script. Because of the gold, the weight is very heavy, so every big day, a servant has to carry it to the cardinal." "All kinds of documents, including edicts, contracts, official documents, etc., are all hidden in the filing cabinet, and have been handed down since the poisoned cardinal. The documents of the whole family are here. I Like the twenty servants, stewards and secretaries before me, I went through the huge pile of papers again. Despite my most careful research, the result was nothing. I put Buccia's The history of the family was read at length, and even written into a book, with the sole purpose of inquiring whether they had added any fortune to their fortunes by the death of Cardinal Caesar Spada. But I found they had only his fellow martyr, Cardinal Ross Pigliosay." "At that time, I was almost sure that the inheritance was not taken by the Buqiya family or his own family. It is still a fortune without owner, like the treasure in the story, it is still in the embrace of the earth. A devil watches over it. I have searched countless times and calculated the income and expenditure of that family for three hundred years. It is no less than a thousand times, but it is still useless.I am still at a loss, and Count Spada is still poor.My employer is dead.Besides his fixed deposits, he kept his family papers, his library of five thousand volumes, and his famous prayer-book.All this he bequeathed to me, and a cash sum of a thousand Roman acues, on the condition that I celebrate mass for him once a year, pray for the rest of his soul, and ask me to compose a genealogy for him and write a family history.I did all of this meticulously.Take it easy, my dear Edmond, we are coming to the last paragraph. " "December 25, 1807, a month before my arrest, that is, the fifteenth day after Count Spada's death, you see, that date is much imprinted on my memory Profound, I re-read these things that I have read a thousand times while sorting out the files, because the palace has been sold to a stranger, and I am leaving Rome to settle in Florence, and at the same time I am going to take my All the twelve thousand livres, my library and the famous prayer book, I was so tired from the long hours of reading them, and my lunch was so full that I rested my head on my hands. Fell asleep, and it was about three o'clock in the afternoon. When I awoke, the clock was striking six. I looked up, and it was dark all around me. I rang for a light, but no one came, and I I decided to get one myself. It was a philosopher's temper, but now I had to. I held a candle in one hand, and as my match-box was empty, I fumbled for a piece of paper with the other. , to light it in the embers of the hearth. Fearing that I was wasting a valuable paper in the dark, I hesitated for a moment, and then it occurred to me that in that famous prayer-book I had seen Passed a piece of paper, yellowed with age, which had been used as a bookmark for centuries, but was kept there because generations respected relics. The prayer book was On the table beside me, I groped for a while, found the paper, twisted it into a strip, pressed it to the dying flame, and lit it." "But under my fingers, as if by magic, when the flames sprang up, I saw pale yellow writing on the paper. I was shocked. I quickly grabbed the paper in my hand I put out the fire, lit the small candle straight away, and with inexpressible excitement spread out the crumpled paper. I found that it was written in mysterious invisible ink, only Put it on the fire and it will show up. A little more than a third of the paper has been burned by the fire. The rest is your scrap of paper this morning. Read it again, Mrs. Tang I'll fill you in on the broken sentences and the incoherent meanings after I've read it, Sis." Faria handed the paper triumphantly to Dantès, who read again the following rusty words:— Today is the invitation of Alexander VI in April 1498, I have been summoned to a banquet, I have offered money, and I hope to become my heir, I will attribute Caprera and Pintevoglio to those who were poisoned), I hereby declare to my pada that I have been in a place known to you (in the cave of the isle of Monte Cristo) silver bars, gold nuggets, precious stones, diamonds, more than a million dollars, the total value of which is about two quarters of Rome. There are two entrances to the twentieth rock on the right hand side of Dongxiaogang, Kaidao; the treasure is at the entrance of the second cave, which is the only heir to whom I have all left. Kay April 25, 1498 "Now," said the abbe, "read the paper again;" and giving Dantès the second paper, which also contained some broken sentences, Edmond read:—The twenty-fifth , I am by His Holiness the Pope for fear that he may not be dissatisfied with the fate that my bequest has made me share with the cardinal Buried all the remaining gold and jade; this treasure exists only in millions; he only has to hit stones to get it.This cave has a corner of the depth; this treasure Saten Spada Faria watched him excitedly. "Now," said he, when he saw that Dantès had read the last line, "put the two scraps of paper together, and you will be able to judge for yourself." Dantès did so, and the combined The contents of the two pieces of paper are as follows: Today is April 25, 1498. I was invited to a banquet by Pope Alexander VI, fearing that he might be dissatisfied with the money I donated and hope to become To my heir, who will - make me - the same fate as Cardinal Caprera and Pintevoglio (who were poisoned), I present to my - sole heir , my nephew Gudo Spada, declares: I have buried all my gold and silver in a place (in the caves of the isle of Monte Cristo) which I know—know and have visited with me. Bars, gold nuggets, precious stones, diamonds, beautiful jade; the existence of this treasure is only known to me, and its total value is about two million dollars in Rome; he only needs to open the twentieth piece on the right hand of Xiaodong Xiaogang Rock - stone, you can get it.There are two entrances to this cave; the treasure is in the deepest corner of the second entrance; I bequeath all of this treasure to my sole heir. Kay - Saten Sparta April 25, 1498 "Well, do you understand now?" Faria asked. "Is this the statement of Cardinal Spada, the will that people have been looking for for so long?" Dantès asked, still half-believing in his heart. "Yes! It's absolutely true!" "Who added it to what it is now?" "I, relying on the remaining half of the sheet. I guessed the rest. From the length of the sheet, I measured the length of the sentence, and then deduced the hidden meaning from the literal meaning, as if we were In the cave, I groped it out by relying on the gleam of light on the top as if groping for the way." "What did you do after you got this result?" "I decided to set off at once, and I did so at once, with only the first chapters of my great book on the unification of Italy with me. But the Minister of Police of the Reich, who happened to have the same opinion as Napoleon On the contrary, Napoleon wanted to have a son to unify Italy, but he wanted to create a separate regime. And I was in such a hurry, they couldn't guess the reason, and they became suspicious, so I left Piombino as soon as I left Piombino. Arrested. And now," continued Faria, addressing Dantès with a fatherly air, "now, my friend, you know as well as I do. If we escape together, half of this treasure is It's yours, if I die here and you escape alone, then it will all be yours." "But," asked Dantès hesitantly, "is there no more legitimate owner of this treasure in the world than us?" "No, no more. Don't worry about that. That family is extinct. Besides, the last Earl of Spada appointed me as his successor and bequeathed this symbolic prayer book to me. He bequeathed to me everything in this book. Never mind, never mind, rest assured, if we have this wealth, we may enjoy it with a clear conscience." "You said the value of this treasure—?" "Two million Roman ecu, in our money, equals about thirteen million ecu." "Impossible!" Dantes exclaimed in fright at the astronomical figure. "Impossible! Why?" asked the priest. "The Spartan family was one of the oldest and most powerful families in the fifteenth century. At that time, there were no financial transactions and industries, so it is not surprising to accumulate those gold and silver jewels. Even today, there are some Roman families Almost starved to death, but they still have diamond jewels worth millions, which have been passed down from generation to generation as family heirlooms, and they can't touch them." Edmund seemed to be dreaming, alternately skeptical and excited. "I have kept this secret from you for so long," continued Faria, "just so that I might try you as a person and surprise you. If we escape before my illness recurs Go out and I will take you to the Isle of Monte Cristo, and now," he continued, with a long sigh, "it is for you to take me there. Now, Dantès, you have not thanked me yet." "This treasure belongs to you, my dear friend," replied Dantès, "and to you alone. I have no rights. I am not your kin." "You are my son, Dantès!" cried the priest. "You are my son in captivity. My occupation determines that I can only live a celibate life. God sent you to comfort me, to comfort me, a man who cannot be a father and a prisoner who cannot be free." Said Farley Ya stretched out his still-moving arm to the young man, who threw himself on his neck and began to cry.