Dantès’ Failed Revival Attempt for Faria
Dantès places the trembling lamp on a projecting stone above the bed and waits confidently for the right moment to administer the restorative. Believing the time has come, he pries open Faria’s teeth with a knife, counts out twelve drops, and watches. After ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, and half an hour with no change, his hair erect and his brow bathed in perspiration, he makes the last trial and pours the remainder of the phial down the purple, gaping lips. The draught produces a galvanic effect: violent trembling pervades the old man’s limbs, his eyes open in a fearful stare, he heaves a shriek-like sigh, and then his convulsed body settles back into its former immobility, the eyes remaining open. For an hour and a half, Edmond leans over his friend, hand on his heart, feeling the body grow cold and the pulse become deeper and duller, until at last the heart stops entirely, the face turns livid, and the open eyes become glazed. At six o’clock, as dawn breaks, Dantès sees that he is alone with a corpse. Overcome with invincible terror, he cannot press the lifeless hand, cannot close the eyes that open again as soon as shut, extinguishes the lamp, carefully conceals it, and withdraws, sealing the entrance to the secret passage with the large stone as he descends.
Dantès Conceals Secret Passage Entrance
Dantès seals the secret passage entrance with the large stone as he descends, extinguishes the lamp, and carefully conceals it. He withdraws just in time, for the jailer is beginning his rounds. The turnkey enters Dantès’ cell, then proceeds to Faria’s dungeon with breakfast and linen, showing no sign that he knows anything of what has occurred.
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