"Then listen," said he.

"I am the Abbe Faria, and have been imprisoned as you know in this Chateau d'If since the year 1811; previously to which I had been confined for three years in the fortress of Fenestrelle.

In the year 1811 I was transferred to Piedmont in France.

It was at this period I learned that the destiny which seemed subservient to every wish formed by Napoleon, had bestowed on him a son, named king of Rome even in his cradle.

I was very far then from expecting the change you have just informed me of; namely, that four years afterwards, this colossus of power would be overthrown.