Chapter 103. Maximilian
Villefort told Morrel to leave, but Morrel could not move from Valentine’s body. He carried Noirtier’s armchair up the stairs with superhuman strength and pushed the old man toward the bed. Noirtier’s face was contorted with rage and grief. Morrel told Noirtier he was Valentine’s betrothed and needed an avenger, not a priest. He told Villefort he knew she had been poisoned, this being the fourth death in the house, that d’Avrigny had warned them, and that Villefort knew the killer. Noirtier and d’Avrigny confirmed his words. Trapped, Villefort promised terrible revenge within three days, begging them to keep the secret to spare the family’s honor. Morrel refused his hand, kissed Valentine’s cold cheek, and fled. The servants had all gone; d’Avrigny had to summon the mayor’s doctor to sign the death certificate, while Noirtier refused to leave the bedside. Abbé Busoni arrived to pray with the old man, bolting the door for privacy.
Chapter 104. Danglars’ Signature
Undertakers wrapped Valentine in a fine cambric shroud she had bought two weeks before. Noirtier returned to his room, half-stunned by grief, and Busoni left at daylight. D’Avrigny found Villefort in his study, sleepless, writing the indictment against Benedetto. Villefort asked d’Avrigny to return at eleven for the funeral but said he would not attend, delegating arrangements to a distant, unemotional cousin.
The funeral procession wound through Paris to Père-Lachaise, followed by fifty carriages and hundreds of mourners. Monte Cristo walked with the procession, scanning the crowd for Morrel, who was nowhere to be seen. Earlier, Monte Cristo had visited Danglars’ bank, demanding the five million francs owed. Danglars tried to refuse, claiming a charity commitment, but Monte Cristo forced him to hand over five signed bonds and gave him a receipt for the full six million. When M. de Boville arrived to collect the promised five million, Danglars lied, claiming Monte Cristo had just taken the money, and Boville departed impressed. The moment Boville left, Danglars double-locked his door, burned incriminating papers, gathered 50,000 francs, wrote his wife abandoning her, and planned to flee that night.
Chapter 105. The Cemetery of Père-Lachaise
The service at Père-Lachaise was perfunctory, with tedious speeches about Valentine’s virtue, one even quoting her plea for mercy for condemned criminals. Monte Cristo watched Morrel, who stood pale and rigid against a tree, hat crushed in his hands, his face blank. After the crowd dispersed, Morrel knelt by the tomb murmuring Valentine’s name. Monte Cristo approached and offered a ride; Morrel refused, saying he needed to be alone. Monte Cristo followed him to the Rue Meslay, where Julie said Maximilian had just returned. Monte Cristo raced upstairs, broke the glass of Morrel’s door, and found him at his desk with pistols and a half-written suicide note.
Chapter 106. Dividing the Proceeds
Above Debray’s apartment, Mercédès and Albert lived in a cheap flat, their former luxury gone. Albert had enlisted as a substitute in the Spahis to go to Algeria, having calculated their remaining 3,000 francs would support Mercédès for two years in Marseilles. On the stairs they met Debray, freshly arrived from coldly dumping Madame Danglars with her share of their ill-gotten profits. Albert refused his pity. That night Mercédès took the diligence to Marseilles; Albert remained for his army papers. Monte Cristo watched her weeping into her veil, murmuring a prayer for the innocent grief he had caused.
Chapter 107. The Lions’ Den
In La Force’s Saint-Bernard wing, the “Lions’ Den,” Andrea Cavalcanti, still passing as Benedetto, paced the courtyard in his torn but polished coat, mocked by thieves until he used the Masonic sign Caderousse had taught him. Called to the visiting room, he found Bertuccio, the count’s steward, who called him a thief and murderer. Andrea bragged that Monte Cristo was his father, his protector. Bertuccio warned him never to speak ill of the count, whose power was limitless. Andrea was led to the examining magistrate, still convinced his protector would rescue him.
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