The Count of Monte Cristo

Arrest by Authorities

Horrified, the narrator tries to flee but is intercepted by five or six customs officers and gendarmes who have arrived at the scene. He offers no resistance, and realizes his clothes are stained with La Carconte’s blood from when he lay beneath the staircase earlier. He points to the hole he made to enter the house, which the officers confirm as his entry point, and he protests his innocence, but the gendarmes threaten to kill him if he resists, then handcuff him, tie him to a horse’s tail, and transport him to Nîmes.

Imprisonment and Trial

The narrator was tracked to the tavern by a customs officer who had lost sight of him earlier; the officer summoned reinforcements that arrived just in time to find the murder scene and take the narrator into custody based on the strong circumstantial evidence against him. He is imprisoned, and spends two months awaiting trial, with only the hope that Abbé Busoni, who had stayed at the local inn earlier that day, can be located to testify to his innocence. His trial is scheduled for the upcoming assizes.

Abbé Busoni’s Intervention

On September 8, three months and five days after the murder, Abbé Busoni arrives at the prison, having learned of the narrator’s imprisonment in Marseille and come to testify on his behalf. The narrator eagerly recounts the full events of the night to the abbé, who confirms every detail of the diamond story and believes his account of innocence.

The Confession

Won over by the abbé’s kindness and trust, the narrator makes a full confession under the seal of secrecy, recounting both the Auteuil assassination and every other transaction of his life. The abbé assures him this voluntary confession will prove he did not commit the jeweller’s murder, and promises to work to convince the judges of his innocence.

Caderousse’s Capture

While the narrator awaits his postponed trial, Caderousse is apprehended in a distant country and extradited back to France. He makes a full confession to the jeweller’s murder, refusing to use his wife La Carconte’s role in suggesting and arranging the crime as an excuse for his own guilt.

Release and Vindication

Caderousse is sentenced to life in the galleys for the murder, and the narrator is immediately released from prison, fully exonerated of all charges related to the jeweller’s death.

KAPITEL 45. The Rain of Blood

Bertuccio continues his confession to the Count of Monte Cristo, recounting how he obtained his position through an abbé’s recommendation and then returning to Corsica to find his sister Assunta murdered by his adopted son Benedetto, who, aided by two accomplices, tortured her over a brazier to force her to reveal her money; she died of her burns after they locked the house and fled with the stolen cash, never to be seen again. The Count absolves Bertuccio but reminds him that his true guilt lay in failing to restore the Villefort infant to its mother, then dismisses him to wander the garden alone, murmuring over the very spot where the child’s grave was dug. The party returns to Paris, where the Count surveys his new Champs-Élysées residence with an uncanny familiarity, instructs Ali to keep his Greek and French attendants strictly separate, and welcomes the beautiful Haydée, who is escorted by a tapestried passage to a concealed suite within the house.

The Smuggler’s Second Chance

The Smuggler’s Second Chance Bertuccio recounts how an Abbé intervened to redirect him from a life of smuggling, securing him a position as a confidential servant through a letter of introduction. The Count confirms that Bertuccio has served him faithfully, but notes his failure to confide in him regarding his sister and adopted son.

Unspoken Sorrows

Unspoken Sorrows Bertuccio explains his reluctance to share his tragic history with the Count. Having waited until now to recount these events, he hesitated to speak of Benedetto, whose trace had been lost, and of his sister, who had died.