Chapter 98. The Bell and Bottle Tavern
Andrea Cavalcanti, known also as Benedetto, fled Paris in a hired cab, pretending to chase a phantom friend toward Louvres. He then hired a horse and rode to Compiègne, where he took a room at the Bell and Bottle inn, ate heartily, and fell into a deep sleep. At dawn he awoke to find gendarmes surrounding the inn. After bribing no one he climbed up the chimney, crossed the rooftops, and descended into an adjoining room—only to find it occupied by two women in one bed. They were Eugénie and Louise. Recognizing them, he begged them to hide him, but the women refused. As the brigadier burst through the door, Eugénie coldly urged Andrea to kill himself. He laughed, threw down his knife, and surrendered with impertinent composure. The two girls, forced to appear in feminine dress before the staring crowd, drove on to Brussels in humiliated fury. Andrea was imprisoned in the Conciergerie.
Chapter 99. The Law
The Danglars household collapsed into disgrace. The baroness hastened to Debray, who offered cold comfort and refused to marry Eugénie to repair the scandal. By midnight she returned home, and finding Eugénie’s door bolted assumed her daughter was asleep. In the morning, Madame Danglars drove to Villefort’s house to plead for clemency toward Cavalcanti. The procureur received her with melancholy dignity, refusing to consider any delay in the trial. He had his own tragedies to avenge, and thundered that justice must strike every guilty person, including himself if necessary. At that moment a despatch arrived announcing Andrea’s arrest at Compiègne. The baroness departed in silent bitterness while Villefort exulted that his next session would be a splendid one.
Chapter 100. The Apparition
Confined to her bed, Valentine suffered recurring fevers and strange visions. On the evening after learning of Eugénie’s flight and Andrea’s arrest, she lay alone in the dim light of her night-lamp when her library door opened silently. A figure emerged, listened, then approached the bed. Valentine, half-mad with fever, hesitated to touch her glass until a hand restrained her. The visitor lifted the glass, drank a sip to test it, and offered her the rest, saying in a voice she recognized: “Now you may drink.” It was the Count of Monte Cristo, who revealed he had rented the adjoining house, hidden behind her door for four days, watching to protect her. He explained that each night he had slipped in to substitute a healthful draught for the poison poured into her glass. He promised she would live for Maximilian, then warned her to feign sleep, for her murderer might return.
Chapter 101. Locusta
After the count withdrew, Valentine lay trembling in the darkness. Near the half-hour past midnight, the floor creaked, the door opened, and Madame de Villefort approached the bed. She poured a liquid from a phial into Valentine’s glass, then leaned close to confirm her stepdaughter slept. Valentine forced herself to keep her eyes closed but recognized her stepmother’s round white arm. When the woman withdrew, Monte Cristo returned to explain that the fortune of two hundred thousand livres a year was the motive for these poisoned deaths. Madame de Saint-Méran, Barrois, and Noirtier had all been targets; now Valentine herself was marked so that Edward might inherit. The count pressed a pastille into her hand, and Valentine, gathering courage, swallowed it. She promised to trust him in whatever dark hours followed. The count drained most of the poisoned glass, arranged it as if she had drunk, and disappeared into the secret passage, while Valentine sank into a sleep deeper than any she had known.
Chapter 102. Valentine
A sickly red glow from a guttering night-lamp fell on Valentine’s still form in the silent house. Madame de Villefort crept in, crossed to the bedside, emptied a quarter-full glass of poison into the ashes, stirring to absorb every drop, then rinsed and replaced the glass. Pulling back the curtain, she saw Valentine white as wax, motionless, no pulse, one arm hanging stiffly over the bed, nails already blue: she had killed her stepdaughter to clear the path for her own son to inherit. When the lamp died and the clock struck half-past four, she fled. Two hours later, the nurse arrived, saw the glass three-quarters empty, assumed Valentine had slept through the night, and dozed by the fire. At eight, noticing the unnatural stiffness of the arm, she screamed.
Dr. d’Avrigny arrived for his morning visit, Villefort rushed from his study, and they raced upstairs to find the servants frozen in terror. D’Avrigny lifted Valentine and announced her dead. Villefort collapsed sobbing; the servants fled. Morrel arrived to find Noirtier signing frantically; he raced up, saw the body, heard the announcement, and collapsed. D’Avrigny tested the dregs, found the poison was not brucine but something far deadlier, confirmed by nitric acid turning the liquid blood red. Madame de Villefort, seeing the test, collapsed lifeless in the hallway. Noirtier let out a silent cry of grief.
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