The Count of Monte Cristo

The following day, Danglars watches his wife leave in her carriage on an unknown errand. Later, Danglars visits Monte Cristo and tells him about the recent losses he has suffered. In addition to the Spanish bonds, a formerly lucrative client in Trieste, whom Monte Cristo seems to know, has suddenly gone bankrupt. Danglars asks Monte Cristo about Major Cavalcanti and his son. Monte Cristo reassures him about the Cavalcanti fortune, and Danglars asks if the Italian nobility always marry among themselves. Monte Cristo says that, on the contrary, the major wishes to find Andrea a French wife and to invest his money outside Italy, perhaps with his son’s future father-in-law.

Monte Cristo asks Danglars if he is thinking of marrying Eugénie to Andrea instead of Albert. Danglars admits that Albert and Mme. Morcerf oppose the expected marriage. He adds that he has known Morcerf since he was a simple fisherman named Fernand Mondego, and that Morcerf felt the need to invent a new name and title for himself, while Danglars has kept his name and was made a baron properly. Danglars also says that there are rumors of some scandal early in Morcerf’s career, concerning a local ruler, Ali Pasha, in Greece. Monte Cristo encourages Danglars to follow up on these rumors and report back to him.

Mme. Danglars meets with Villefort in his office at the Palace of Justice. She notes that the setting is appropriate because she feels like a criminal who is now being punished for her sins. Villefort sympathizes with her, then tells her they have other problems. He says that Monte Cristo’s gardeners could not have found the child buried in the garden, because no child was buried there. After recovering from the attack by Bertuccio, Villefort returned to the house to destroy any remaining evidence. He dug in the place where he had buried the box, then searched the rest of the garden, but could not find it. Villefort realized Bertuccio had taken the box, and that the child was likely still alive. Furthermore, Monte Cristo’s lie about finding the box indicates that he knows the full story and wants Villefort and Mme. Danglars to know that he knows their secret.

Albert calls on Monte Cristo, and the two discuss Monte Cristo’s dinner party. Monte Cristo notes that Eugénie was absent, and Albert tells Monte Cristo that Eugénie is no more interested in marrying him than he is interested in marrying her. Monte Cristo informs Albert that Danglars may have lost interest in the proposed marriage as well. Albert is relieved, but nevertheless slightly insulted that Danglars no longer views him as a desirable husband for Eugénie. Monte Cristo reassures him that it’s only Danglars’s “bad taste” that has led him to look elsewhere. He tells Albert that he should be able to find out for himself who Danglars has turned his attention to.

Villefort is brooding at home on recent events when he is interrupted by the arrival of his former mother-in-law, Mme. Saint-Méran, feverish and prostrate with grief. Her husband, M. Saint-Méran, has just died after a sudden illness, and she is convinced she will soon die as well. Her only wish is to see Valentine safely married to Franz before her death.

The next day, Mme. Meran is still feverish and agitated. The night before, she saw a “white, silent form” come into her room and move the glass by her bed and is convinced that it was her dead husband calling her to join him. Valentine calls in the family doctor, who finds the old woman’s symptoms “very strange.” Valentine goes into the garden, where she finds Maximilien waiting at the gate. He tells Valentine that Franz has just returned to Paris. Valentine must choose between obeying her family’s wishes and eloping with Maximilien. Valentine feels she cannot go against the wishes of her family, but finally agrees to elope with Maximilien after he threatens to kill himself.

Three days later, Maximilien receives a note from Valentine informing him that her marriage contract will be signed that night, so they must elope that evening. Maximilien waits for Valentine, but she does not appear at the time arranged. After two hours pass, Maximilien climbs into the garden, where he overhears a conversation between Villefort and the doctor. Mme. Saint-Méran has just died, and the doctor believes she has been poisoned, possibly by a drug the doctor prescribed to Noirtier.

Maximilien enters the house, where he finds Valentine keeping watch at her grandmother’s bedside. Valentine takes him to Noirtier’s room and introduces Maximilien to her grandfather as the man she loves and intends to marry. Maximilien asks to speak to Noirtier alone, as he has learned from Valentine how the Noirtier communicates. Maximilien tells him of the planned elopement, but Noirtier indicates that the two should wait as the marriage to Franz will soon be canceled.

At the funeral of M and Mme. Saint-Méran, Villefort tells Franz that he still hopes to see the marriage finalized as soon as possible, and that he would like Franz to sign the wedding contract that day. After Franz arrives with his witnesses, the notary informs him that Valentine has been disinherited by her grandfather, but Franz does not care. Noirtier sends word that he wants to meet with Franz. Following Noirtier’s instructions, Valentine and Barrois find a bundle of documents hidden in a secret drawer of the old man’s writing desk.

The papers tell the story of a meeting of the Bonapartist Club of the Rue Saint-Jacque held on February 5, 1815. The meeting was attended by General Flavien de Quesnal, Franz’s father. The general had been recommended to the group by Napoleon himself. However, during the course of the meeting, the general revealed himself to still be a Royalist. Tensions flared, and the general ended up fighting a duel with the president of the club. The general was killed, and the president was wounded. Franz asks the name of the man who killed his father, and Noirtier reveals that it was himself.