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THE COUNT OF MONTE-CRISTO
235
fixed eyes he awaited boldly the moment for administering the hoped-for restorative.
When he believed the instant had arrived, he took the knife, unclosed the teeth, which offered less resistance than before, counted, one after
Dantès is holding the dying Abbé Faria in his arms
the other, twelve drops, and watched; the phial contained, perhaps, twice as much more. He waited ten minutes, a quarter of an hour, half an hour; nothing moved. Trembling, his hair erect, his brow bathed with perspiration, he counted the seconds by the beatings of his heart. Then he thought it was time to make the last trial, and he put the phial to the violet lips of Faria, and without having occasion to force open his jaws, which had remained extended, he poured the whole of the liquid down his throat.
