The Count of Monte Cristo

Debray Questions the Baroness’ Agitation

After the maid leaves, the baroness emerges in a loose dress and sits beside Debray on a couch, where she pensively caresses the little spaniel. Debray watches her in silence, then asks candidly whether something is vexing her. When she denies it, rises to look in a mirror, and declares she looks “frightful,” Debray smiles and prepares to contradict her, but the moment is broken by the sudden opening of the door.

Discussion of Eugénie’s Opera Aspirations

Through the dressing-room door, the baroness mentions that Eugénie barely speaks to Debray, and Debray recalls Morcerf’s similar complaint. The baroness suggests Eugénie will one day visit the minister’s study to request an engagement at the Opera, dismissing her daughter’s musical infatuation as “ridiculous for a young lady of fashion.” Debray amicably agrees to help secure an engagement.

Danglars’ Unannounced Visit

M. Danglars appears unexpectedly in the doorway. The baroness turns in astonishment but, suspecting he has come to make amends for his earlier sharp words, she adopts a dignified air and coolly asks Debray to read to her. Danglars, however, calmly and politely informs them that the baroness should retire given the late hour and that he wishes to discuss “serious matters” with his wife that evening.

Danglars Ejects Debray

Danglars continues in the same measured tone, insisting that he must speak with his wife tonight—a request he makes so rarely that Debray cannot reasonably refuse. Debray, recognizing the futility of resistance against the “irresistible will of the master of the house,” mutters something, bows, and withdraws. Once outside, he compares himself absurdly to Nathan in Racine’s Athalie as the husband claims a complete victory.

Confrontation Over 700,000 Franc Loss

Alone with his wife, Danglars takes a dictatorial posture on the sofa and roughly handles the spaniel, which attempts to bite him. He declares that he is in a worse humor than usual. When the baroness demands to know what her husband’s financial troubles have to do with her, Danglars reveals that he has just lost 700,000 francs on the Spanish loan and accuses her of being responsible. The baroness, struggling to hide her alarm, protests that she does not understand him.

Recount of the Baroness’ Past Speculative Gains

Danglars methodically catalogues the baroness’s previous “dreams” and “instincts” that guided his speculations: her February tip about Haitian funds yielded 400,000 francs, of which she received 100,000; her instinct about a railway grant tripled shares and earned a million, of which she took 250,000; her political conversation at the minister’s dinner led to a 600,000-franc gain on Spanish shares, of which she received 500,000 livres. He points out that in total she has taken 500,000 livres from his gains this year.

Accusation That the Baroness Funded Debray

Danglars accuses the baroness of “spoiling everything” three days later by discussing politics with Debray, who misled her into believing Don Carlos had returned to Spain. He sold his shares at a loss when the false report spread, and he now demands a fourth of his loss—175,000 francs—asserting that if she does not possess the sum, she must have lent it to her friends, Debray among them. He further claims to have watched Debray leave pocketing all 500,000 livres she handed him this year.

Danglars’ Demand to Halt Fortune Drain

Danglars enumerates the costs he has silently borne over the past four years—100,000 francs for her music and his dancing lessons—and asserts that he has been aware of her conduct for sixteen years. He declares that, thanks to his pretended ignorance, none of her friends from Villefort to Debray has dared to ridicule him. He forbids her from making him hateful or ridiculous, and above all from ruining him, demanding that her diplomatist lover either give his lessons gratis or never set foot in the house again.

KAPITEL 65. A Conjugal Scene

When the name of Villefort is uttered, the baroness turns pale and rises as though confronted by a ghost, pressing her husband for an explanation of how he came to learn the secret of her first marriage to M. de Nargonne. Danglars, cold and brutal, lays out the facts of her former husband’s death and shifts the conversation to his own grievances, demanding that Debray share the loss of 700,000 francs or be financially ruined. Stunned by this exposure and overwhelmed by the accumulation of recent disasters in her household, Madame Danglars sinks into a chair and attempts to faint, but her husband ignores her, shuts the bedroom door, and returns to his own apartments, leaving her to wonder whether the confrontation was merely a disagreeable dream.