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XI . The Hand of God Andrea Cavalcanti was not an Italian nobleman at all . He was Benedetto , the baby whom the Corsican steward had saved from the garden at Auteuil , and he had grown up to become a thief . He had spent years in the prison of Toulon with chains on his legs . There he had shared a chain with another prisoner , who was none other than Caderousse . The diamond from the Abbé Busoni had brought the old innkeeper no happiness . His greed had led to a murder at his inn , and he had been sent to Toulon for the rest of his life . Then one day an Englishman who called himself Lord Wilmore had helped the two men to escape . The younger one had soon received a new name , a false father and a fortune , and he had come to Paris as Andrea Cavalcanti . His old companion had followed him there . Now the old man was asking Andrea for more and more money every month , and he threatened to tell everyone the truth if the payments stopped . At last Andrea gave him a plan of the Count of Monte Cristo’s house in the Champs - Élysées . “ The Count is away tonight , ” he said . “ There is a desk in his bedroom full of gold and jewels . Go and take what you want . ” He was hoping that the Count would kill the thief or that the thief would kill the Count . Either way , he would be free of a dangerous friend . He also sent a short note to the Count , without a name , to warn him that a thief was coming . That night the old man climbed through a window and began to open the desk . Suddenly a light came on , and he saw a priest in a black robe who was watching him . It was the Abbé Busoni . “ So you are a thief now too , Caderousse , ” the priest said . The thief attacked him with a knife , but the blade broke against something hard under the priest’s robe , because the Count was wearing a shirt of steel . He held the thief’s arm until the man fell to his knees . “ I shall let you go , ” the Count said , “ but first you will write a letter to Baron Danglars and tell him that the man who wants to marry his daughter is an escaped criminal . ” The thief wrote the letter , and the Count let him climb out through the window . “ If you get home safely , ” the priest said , “ I shall believe that God has forgiven you . ” In the dark street , behind the garden wall , someone was waiting . As the old man reached the ground , a knife struck him three times in the back . He screamed for help , and the Count and Ali carried him back inside and laid him on a bed . “ It was Benedetto , ” he said . “ Write it down , because I want him to be punished . ” The Count wrote down his words , and the dying man signed the paper with a shaking hand : “ I die , murdered by the Corsican Benedetto , my companion in the prison of Toulon . ”
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