The Count of Monte Cristo

Noirtier sends for Maximilien. When he arrives, Valentine announces that her grandfather plans to leave his son’s house for an apartment of her own. Valentine will go and live with him if she receives her parents’ permission. When she is free of her parents, she will marry Maximilien. The meeting is interrupted by the collapse of Noirtier’s servant, Barrois, after Valentine gives him a glass of lemonade intended for Noirtier. Valentine calls for the doctor, who is visiting Edouard, and helps Maximilien to leave undetected.

The doctor tends to Barrois but is unable to save him. After Barrois’s death, the doctor tests the lemonade and finds that it has been poisoned with the same substance he prescribes for Noirtier in smaller doses. The doctor tells Villefort that he believes there is a poisoner in the house, someone who has killed the Saint-Mérans and has now targeted Noirtier. Noirtier has only survived because he has gained immunity through the smaller doses of the same drug. The doctor says that the obvious suspect is Valentine, who was her grandparents’ heiress and who has just been restored to Noirtier’s will. Villefort refuses to accept the doctor’s suspicions. The doctor agrees to remain quiet but says he will no longer treat the Villeforts.

Andrea is returning to his hotel one night when the concierge stops him to say that the man to whom Andrea pays “a little pension” has refused the latest payment and left a note demanding a meeting with Andrea. Andrea borrows his servants’ clothes and spends the night at another inn, then goes to see Caderousse the next morning. Caderousse offers Andrea breakfast, then demands more money. He urges Andrea to ask for six months’ allowance from Monte Cristo in advance. Andrea says that such a thing is impossible, but that he can give Caderousse 500 francs a month instead of 200. Any larger amount Caderousse must raise for himself.

Caderousse then begins to question Andrea about Monte Cristo’s house in Paris. Andrea reveals that the servants sleep elsewhere and that Monte Cristo leaves his shutters open at night, claiming not to care if he’s robbed. He also spends a few nights a week in Auteuil. Caderousse encourages Andrea to draw him plans of the first and second floors. As Andrea prepares to leave, Caderousse points out that Andrea is wearing a diamond ring with his servant’s clothes and tells Andrea to leave it with him.

Monte Cristo informs Bertuccio that he intends to leave France soon. He then receives an anonymous letter, presumably sent by Andrea/Benedetto warning him to expect a burglary at the house in Paris. That night, Monte Cristo keeps watch with Ali as the intruder breaks in. Dressed as Abbé Busoni, with a coat of mail hidden under his cassock, Monte Cristo confronts the burglar, who is Caderousse. Monte Cristo forces Caderousse to confess that he and Benedetto are escaped convicts and has him write a letter to Danglars informing him that the man the baron knows as Andrea Cavalcanti is an impostor and a criminal.

Monte Cristo allows Caderousse to leave, but as Caderousse climbs over the wall, he is fatally stabbed by Benedetto, lying in wait for him. Monte Cristo uses Faria’s red liquid to keep Caderousse alive long enough to sign a declaration identifying Benedetto as his killer. Monte Cristo then removes his wig and whispers his real name into the ear of the dying Caderousse.

Albert, delighted to be free of his engagement of Eugénie, calls on Monte Cristo, who invites Albert to join him at his seaside estate in Normandy. Monte Cristo leaves the household under Haydée’s management. On the way to Normandy, Monte Cristo explains to Albert that none of the people who serve him will ever leave him, because “a good servant is one over whom I have the right of life and death,” but he declines to explain what he means by this (348).

A few days later, Albert’s valet suddenly arrives at the estate in Normandy with a letter and a newspaper. Albert reacts strongly to the news they contain, and asks Monte Cristo for a horse so he may return to Paris immediately. Monte Cristo agrees, as he already knows what has happened—the newspaper carries a report accusing Albert’s father, Morcerf, of betraying his benefactor, Ali Pasha, to the Turkish years before, when Morcerf was still known as Fernand Mondego.

While Albert is still in Normandy, the news about Morcerf spreads through Paris, but Morcerf himself remains unaware of it until he arrives at the Chamber of Deputies, of which he is a member. His fellow deputies, scandalized by the report, vote to open an investigation into Morcerf’s past. Morcerf, confident that there are no possible witnesses against him, defends his innocence. Morcerf notes that Ali Pasha entrusted him on his deathbed with the care of his favorite mistress and their daughter, Haydée. Unfortunately, the two women disappeared, and he was told they died of grief and poverty.

The chairman leading the investigation announces that a witness has just asked to appear before the chamber. The witness is Haydée, who identifies herself as Ali Pasha’s daughter. Haydée describes how Morcerf sold her and her mother to an Armenian enslaver. She produces documents proving her identity and confirming the sale of her mother and herself. The final document describes how she was purchased out of slavery by the Count of Monte Cristo, who paid the dealer with an emerald worth 800,000 francs.

When the chairman asks to speak to Monte Cristo himself, Haydée informs him that Monte Cristo is in Normandy, and that she has acted of her own free will. Despite her secluded lifestyle, which she says she follows by choice, she keeps herself informed of all current events. Her ambition has always been avenging her father, and she knew the “traitor” lived in Paris. Morcerf’s fellow deputies then unanimously declare him guilty.