The Count of Monte Cristo

The Horse Rental

After walking two leagues from Louvres, Andrea stops near Chapelle-en-Serval to rest and solidify his escape plan, as he knows he cannot use public coaches or post-horses without a passport, and remaining in the heavily guarded Oise department is far too risky. He visits the local inn, claiming he fell off his horse while travelling from Mortefontaine to Senlis and needs to hire a horse to reach Compiègne that night to avoid worrying his family. The innkeeper saddles his horse Le Blanc, and sends his 7-year-old son to ride ahead and return the horse after dropping Andrea off. Andrea pays 20 francs and accidentally drops a visiting card belonging to a friend at the Café de Paris, leading the innkeeper to believe he rented the horse to the Count of Mauléon of 25 Rue Saint-Dominique.

Journey to Compiègne

Andrea rides the slow but steady horse Le Blanc for three and a half hours, covering the nine leagues between Chapelle-en-Serval and Compiègne, arriving at the town’s coach stop at 4 a.m. He recalls the well-known Bell and Bottle inn in Compiègne from prior trips to the area, and decides to stop there to rest and eat before continuing his escape at daybreak.

The Bell and Bottle

Andrea arrives at the Bell and Bottle inn in Compiègne, gives the stable boy all his small change to care for the rented horse, and knocks on the door. He tells the waiter he lost his way walking from Saint-Jean-aux-Bois after missing the midnight coach, and requests a small room overlooking the courtyard, a cold fowl, and a bottle of Bordeaux. He asks for room 3, which he stayed in on a prior visit, but it is occupied, so he accepts room 7, which is identical in layout. He notes the inn’s pretty courtyard with triple galleries and climbing jessamine and clematis while waiting for his room to be prepared.

Supper and Sleep

Andrea eats a hearty supper of cold fowl and aged Bordeaux wine by the fire in his room, surprising himself with his robust appetite despite his recent crimes. He goes to bed and falls into a deep, untroubled sleep, as his full escape plan is already finalized: he will leave before daybreak, travel to the nearby forest, disguise himself as a woodcutter with dirt-covered hands, darkened hair treated with a leaden comb, and tanned skin, then travel by night through wooded areas to the nearest frontier, where he will sell his stolen diamonds to fund a new life. He leaves his door unlatched and places a sharp, well-tempered knife on the table next to his bed, but leaves the shutters open so he will wake at sunrise.

The Gendarme Trap

Andrea is woken at 7 a.m. by warm sunlight playing on his face, and immediately remembers he has overslept. When he looks out the window, he sees a gendarme crossing the courtyard, then a second gendarme guarding the only staircase leading to his floor, and a third gendarme on horseback blocking the inn’s main street entrance, with a crowd of curious onlookers gathered around the officer. Realizing the authorities are there for him, Andrea panics briefly before spotting a pen, ink, and paper on the fireplace mantel.

Chimney Escape

Andrea writes a brief note explaining he has no money to pay his bill but is not dishonest, leaving a valuable pin worth ten times the cost of his stay as collateral, and stating he left at daybreak out of shame. He leaves the note and pin on the table, leaves his door ajar to feign a hasty, careless departure, then climbs into the inn’s chimney, replacing the decorative chimney board (depicting Achilles and Deidamia) and erasing all traces of his passage from the ash before ascending the hollow flue to escape.

The Police Discovery

The commissary of police and gendarme brigadier arrive at Andrea’s room in response to a nationwide telegraph alert for Caderousse’s murderer, as Compiègne is a well-staffed fortified town that acted on the alert immediately, and the Bell and Bottle is the town’s best-known inn. A sentinel from the nearby Hôtel de Ville had reported a young man arriving on horseback with a small boy at 4 a.m., matching Andrea’s description, so the officers came directly to his room. They find the door ajar, and the note and pin on the table confirm Andrea has fled. The experienced brigadier searches the room thoroughly before stopping at the chimney: though Andrea erased his footprints from the ash, the chimney is a clear potential exit, and the officers begin investigating the flue to pursue him.