Chapter 93. Valentine
Morrel made haste to Noirtier’s house, where Valentine waited with anxious foreboding about the duel. She was overjoyed to learn Albert had apologized. Their private conversation was interrupted when Madame Danglars and Eugénie arrived to announce the approaching marriage of Eugénie to Prince Cavalcanti. Valentine, suffering from a worsening weakness, excused herself. As she descended the staircase to return to her grandfather, her stiffened foot missed a step, and she toppled to the floor, fainting in Morrel’s arms. When she revived, she laughed with false cheerfulness, then suffered another convulsive attack. Madame de Villefort and the servants rushed in crying for help.
Chapter 94. Maximilian’s Avowal
Villefort flew for Dr. d’Avrigny, while Morrel darted through the streets to Monte Cristo’s house. There he confessed that he loved Valentine and feared she was being murdered. He had overheard a conversation between Villefort and d’Avrigny about unnatural deaths in that household. Monte Cristo listened with terrible calmness, then, overwhelmed by Maximilian’s anguish, commanded the young man to go home and promised to send word. D’Avrigny meanwhile learned from Noirtier that the old man had been fortifying Valentine against poison by giving her small doses of the brucine mixture. Without this precaution she would already be dead. The doctor administered an antidote, and Valentine survived the night. An Italian priest, Il Signor Giacomo Busoni, secretly hired the house adjoining Villefort’s that very evening.
Chapter 95. Father and Daughter
At the Danglars mansion, Eugénie summoned her father to the gilded drawing-room and informed him she would not marry Andrea Cavalcanti. When Danglars revealed that he needed the three million francs of Cavalcanti’s fortune to restore his shaken credit, Eugénie agreed to the marriage under one condition: her personal liberty must remain untouched. She proposed signing the contract but said nothing of her secret plans. The banker pressed her hand without thanking her, while Eugénie smiled without warmth. The interview ended, and Eugénie returned to her piano to sing Brabantio’s malediction upon Desdemona, while her father plotted how to use her dowry.
Chapter 96. The Contract
Three days later, Andrea Cavalcanti arrived at Monte Cristo’s house in high spirits, begging the count to take his father’s place at the altar. When Monte Cristo refused, citing Eastern superstitions about presiding at weddings, Andrea left disappointed. That evening the grand salon of the Danglars mansion blazed with light as the cream of Parisian society gathered for the contract signing. Monte Cristo arrived, and the notaries prepared the papers. As the baroness moved to sign, Monte Cristo interrupted to reveal that a waistcoat belonging to the murdered man Caderousse had been delivered to him, containing a letter stained with blood, addressed to Danglars. He had forwarded it to the king’s attorney. As panic rippled through the crowd, Andrea slipped away through an adjoining room, snatching the most valuable diamonds from the bride-elect’s trousseau as he fled. At the door, an officer advanced with soldiers.
Chapter 97. The Departure for Belgium
The salon emptied in chaos, and the Danglars household dissolved into confusion. Upstairs, Eugénie and Louise d’Armilly locked themselves in their room. Eugénie laughed at the ruin of her engagement and announced they would depart that very night for Brussels as planned. She produced a passport in the name of Léon d’Armilly, traveling with his sister, obtained through Monte Cristo. From a secretaire, Louise counted twenty-three thousand francs in banknotes; Eugénie had as much more in jewelry. Together they packed a portmanteau. Eugénie cut off her magnificent hair without hesitation, donned a complete male disguise, and practiced her contralto voice. In the dead of night, with Eugénie carrying the portmanteau and Louise slipping behind her, they descended the side staircase. Eugénie deceived the dozing porter with her confident air, and the two fugitives stepped into a post-chaise hired three days earlier. They instructed the postilion to drive toward Fontainebleau but planned to alter course for the Belgian frontier. The carriage rattled through the Barrière Saint-Martin, and M. Danglars no longer had a daughter.
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