Dantes remained in his cell all day, not daring to return to his friend, thinking thus to defer the moment when he should be convinced, once for all, that the abbe was mad -- such a conviction would be so terrible!
But, towards the evening after the hour for the customary visit had gone by, Faria, not seeing the young man appear, tried to move and get over the distance which separated them.Edmond shuddered when he heard the painful efforts which the old man made to drag himself along; his leg was inert, and he could no longer make use of one arm.Edmond was obliged to assist him, for otherwise he would not have been able to enter by the small aperture which led to Dantes' chamber.
"Here I am, pursuing you remorselessly," he said with a benignant smile."You thought to escape my munificence, but it is in vain.Listen to me."Edmond saw there was no escape, and placing the old man on his bed, he seated himself on the stool beside him.
"You know," said the abbe, "that I was the secretary and intimate friend of Cardinal Spada, the last of the princes of that name.I owe to this worthy lord all the happiness Iever knew.He was not rich, although the wealth of his family had passed into a proverb, and I heard the phrase very often, `As rich as a Spada.' But he, like public rumor, lived on this reputation for wealth; his palace was my paradise.I was tutor to his nephews, who are dead; and when he was alone in the world, I tried by absolute devotion to his will, to make up to him all he had done for me during ten years of unremitting kindness.The cardinal's house had no secrets for me.I had often seen my noble patron annotating ancient volumes, and eagerly searching amongst dusty family manuscripts.One day when I was reproaching him for his unavailing searches, and deploring the prostration of mind that followed them, he looked at me, and, smiling bitterly, opened a volume relating to the History of the City of Rome.There, in the twentieth chapter of the Life of Pope Alexander VI., were the following lines, which I can never forget: --"`The great wars of Romagna had ended; Caesar Borgia, who had completed his conquest, had need of money to purchase all Italy.The pope had also need of money to bring matters to an end with Louis XII.King of France, who was formidable still in spite of his recent reverses; and it was necessary, therefore, to have recourse to some profitable scheme, which was a matter of great difficulty in the impoverished condition of exhausted Italy.His holiness had an idea.He determined to make two cardinals.'
"By choosing two of the greatest personages of Rome, especially rich men -- this was the return the holy father looked for.In the first place, he could sell the great appointments and splendid offices which the cardinals already held; and then he had the two hats to sell besides.
There was a third point in view, which will appear hereafter.The pope and Caesar Borgia first found the two future cardinals; they were Giovanni Rospigliosi, who held four of the highest dignities of the Holy See, and Caesar Spada, one of the noblest and richest of the Roman nobility;both felt the high honor of such a favor from the pope.They were ambitious, and Caesar Borgia soon found purchasers for their appointments.The result was, that Rospigliosi and Spada paid for being cardinals, and eight other persons paid for the offices the cardinals held before their elevation, and thus eight hundred thousand crowns entered into the coffers of the speculators.
"It is time now to proceed to the last part of the speculation.The pope heaped attentions upon Rospigliosi and Spada, conferred upon them the insignia of the cardinalate, and induced them to arrange their affairs and take up their residence at Rome.Then the pope and Caesar Borgia invited the two cardinals to dinner.This was a matter of dispute between the holy father and his son.Caesar thought they could make use of one of the means which he always had ready for his friends, that is to say, in the first place, the famous key which was given to certain persons with the request that they go and open a designated cupboard.This key was furnished with a small iron point, -- a negligence on the part of the locksmith.When this was pressed to effect the opening of the cupboard, of which the lock was difficult, the person was pricked by this small point, and died next day.Then there was the ring with the lion's head, which Caesar wore when he wanted to greet his friends with a clasp of the hand.The lion bit the hand thus favored, and at the end of twenty-four hours, the bite was mortal.Caesar proposed to his father, that they should either ask the cardinals to open the cupboard, or shake hands with them;but Alexander VI., replied: `Now as to the worthy cardinals, Spada and Rospigliosi, let us ask both of them to dinner, something tells me that we shall get that money back.
Besides, you forget, Caesar, an indigestion declares itself immediately, while a prick or a bite occasions a delay of a day or two.' Caesar gave way before such cogent reasoning, and the cardinals were consequently invited to dinner.
"The table was laid in a vineyard belonging to the pope, near San Pierdarena, a charming retreat which the cardinals knew very well by report.Rospigliosi, quite set up with his new dignities, went with a good appetite and his most ingratiating manner.Spada, a prudent man, and greatly attached to his only nephew, a young captain of the highest promise, took paper and pen, and made his will.He then sent word to his nephew to wait for him near the vineyard; but it appeared the servant did not find him.
"Spada knew what these invitations meant; since Christianity, so eminently civilizing, had made progress in Rome, it was no longer a centurion who came from the tyrant with a message, `Caesar wills that you die.' but it was a legate a latere, who came with a smile on his lips to say from the pope, `His holiness requests you to dine with him.'