 After six years of imprisonment in the Château d'If, Dantès is on the verge of suicide when he befriends the Abbé Faria ("The Mad Priest"), an Italian fellow prisoner who had dug an escape tunnel that ended up in Dantès' cell.Over the next eight years, Faria gives Dantès an extensive education in language, culture, mathematics, chemistry, medicine, and science.Knowing himself to be close to death, Faria tells Dantès the location of a treasure on the small island of Monte Cristo.