Three months passed away.
"Are you strong ?" the abbe asked one day of Dantes.

The young man, in reply, took up the chisel, bent it into the form of a horseshoe, and then as readily straightened it.
"And will you engage not to do any harm to the sentry, except as a last resort ?" "I promise on my honor." "Then," said the abbe, "we may hope to put our design into execution." "And how long shall we be in accomplishing the necessary work ?" "At least a year." "And shall we begin at once ?" "At once." "We have lost a year to no purpose!" cried Dantes.
"Do you consider the last twelve months to have been wasted ?" asked the abbe.
"Forgive me!" cried Edmond, blushing deeply.
"Tut, tut!" answered the abbe, "man is but man after all, and you are about the best specimen of the genus I have ever known.

Come, let me show you my plan." The abbe then showed Dantes the sketch he had made for their escape.

It consisted of a plan of his own cell and that of Dantes, with the passage which united them.

In this passage he proposed to drive a level as they do in mines; this level would bring the two prisoners immediately beneath the gallery where the sentry kept watch; once there, a large excavation would be made, and one of the flag-stones with which the gallery was paved be so completely loosened that at the desired moment it would give way beneath the feet of the soldier, who, stunned by his fall, would be immediately bound and gagged by Dantes before he had power to offer any resistance.