The Count of Monte Cristo

KAPITEL 96. The Contract

During the signing of the marriage contract between Andrea Cavalcanti and Mademoiselle Danglars, Monte Cristo recounts the discovery of Caderousse’s bloodstained waistcoat and the damning letter found in its pocket, implicating Baron Danglars. The revelation, coupled with the sudden arrival of police led by a commissary, exposes Andrea as an escaped galley-slave and the accused murderer of Caderousse; Andrea flees, the drawing party collapses into panic, and the engagement is shattered. The chapter serves as the culmination of Monte Cristo’s long-planned revenge against Danglars, while also bringing Andrea’s true identity and crimes to light.

Monte Cristo Presents Caderousse’s Bloodied Waistcoat

Monte Cristo, who has been silent throughout most of the gathering, announces that the waistcoat overlooked by the police after Caderousse’s death was discovered that day, soaked in blood and pierced over the heart. He explains that his valet, examining the garment, found a letter in its pocket addressed to Baron Danglars—stained with blood and only decipherable with effort—and that he has forwarded the waistcoat and letter to the king’s attorney as circumstantial evidence. Madame Danglars, Danglars, and the assembled guests react with shock and alarm at the count’s disclosure, while the baroness questions how this could affect Monsieur de Villefort.

Andrea Panics as the Evidence is Unfolded

As Monte Cristo unfolds the details of the waistcoat and the letter, Andrea grows increasingly pale, reads the gathering storm of danger in the room, and quietly slips away through a second drawing-room and into the anteroom beyond. His reaction—watching Monte Cristo intently and then vanishing—signals to the reader that he is the intended target of the count’s calculated revelation, even as Danglars murmurs a vague recollection that the murdered man was an old galley-slave named Caderousse.

The Notary Summons Andrea to Sign the Contract

Determined to press forward despite the disturbance, Monte Cristo urges the company to continue signing the contract and apologizes to the baroness and Mademoiselle Danglars for the emotion his story has caused. After the baroness signs and returns the pen to the notary, the notary calls for “Prince Cavalcanti” to take his turn, joined by the younger guests who call Andrea familiarly by his Christian name. Danglars dispatches a flunkee to fetch the missing young man, unaware that Andrea has already fled.

Police Arrive to Arrest Andrea Cavalcanti

Before the notary can locate Andrea, the guests are driven back into the principal salon in terror as an officer posts two soldiers at the door of each drawing-room and a commissary of police, girt with his scarf, advances toward Danglars. Madame Danglars screams and faints, while Danglars, his guilty conscience betraying him, wears a look of abject terror before his assembled guests. Monte Cristo steps forward to meet the commissioner, and the room erupts in a general cry of astonishment as the magistrate demands to know which guest answers to the name of Andrea Cavalcanti.

The Commissary Charges Andrea with Caderousse’s Murder

The commissary, unmoved by the chaos, identifies Andrea Cavalcanti as an escaped galley-slave from Toulon and formally accuses him of having assassinated Caderousse—his former prison companion—at the moment of his escape from the Count of Monte Cristo’s house. When Danglars asks in amazement who Andrea really is, the magistrate delivers the verdict; Monte Cristo casts a swift glance around the room and sees that Andrea has already disappeared, sealing the collapse of the contract signing and the ruin of the arranged marriage.

KAPITEL 97. The Departure for Belgium

After the scandal that exposed Andrea Cavalcanti as an escaped convict, Eugénie seizes the opportunity to escape the gilded cage of her father’s house, already having made secret preparations to flee with her devoted companion Louise d’Armilly; the two have arranged a post-chaise, obtained a passport through the Count of Monte Cristo identifying Eugénie as the young artist Léon d’Armilly traveling with his sister, and accumulated some forty-five thousand francs in cash and jewels. Upon retiring to her room with Louise, Eugénie cuts off her magnificent hair without hesitation, dons a complete male disguise with practiced ease, and in the dead of night the two fugitives descend a side staircase to the yard, where Eugénie deceives the sleeping porter with her contralto voice and confident demeanor before slipping out into the street; they instruct the postilion to drive toward Fontainebleau but plan to alter their route toward Belgium, thus accomplishing their escape as the carriage rattles toward the barrier of Saint-Martin, leaving the banker without a daughter.