A Learned Italian — The Count of Monte Cristo

Edmond carries Abbé Faria to the window so he can see him in the light. Faria is small, gray-bearded, and sharp-eyed despite his torn clothes. He quickly hides the hole in the floor and shows Edmond the tools he made himself. He explains that he dug a tunnel fifty feet long, but aimed it wrong and reached a corridor full of soldiers instead of the sea.

Faria tells who he is and why he is in prison. Officials call him mad because he once offered millions for his freedom. Edmond learns that escape is nearly impossible. One wall is solid rock, another opens on the governor's cellars, and the window looks onto a gallery where guards march day and night. When Edmond climbs up to look, he sees the musket of a sentry and knows Faria is right. Edmond suggests killing a sentry. Faria refuses. He will dig through stone, but he will not murder a man.

Edmond's hope returns at last. Faria spent years digging in the wrong direction, yet he never gave up. Edmond vows to work twice as hard and follow the old man's example. They plan a new tunnel aimed more carefully, like the top of a cross cut into the old passage. Faria also amazes Edmond by describing how he made paper, pens, and ink from fish bones, soot, and wine, taught himself five languages, and memorized whole books from memory. He wrote a long political work on shirt cloth and can recite histories from memory as if the pages were open before him. He invites Edmond to visit his cell and says, Follow me.

Edmond follows Faria back through the narrow underground passage on hands and knees. He is no longer alone with a voice in the floor. He has found a teacher and a partner who treats prison like a problem to be studied. The chapter ends with two prisoners sharing stone, tools, and hope. One carried the other quietly toward light, and now both crawl together into the world Faria built below while guards upstairs still believe Edmond is shut up alone.