The Count of Monte Cristo

Franz Discusses the Count with Albert

Returning to the hotel, Franz finds Albert in his dressing-gown and slippers, smoking a cigar. Their conversation turns to Italian women and the countess, who Albert notes was genuinely alarmed at the sight of the stranger. Albert reveals that he met the count and the Greek girl in the lobby after the performance, and dismisses Franz’s fears, describing the man as a “deuced fine-looking fellow—admirably dressed” whose pallor merely bespeaks aristocratic breeding. However, Albert confirms that the stranger spoke in the Romaic dialect with a mixture of Greek words—information he possesses from his days at college. This detail convinces Franz beyond any doubt of the man’s identity. Albert then announces that he has been arranging a little surprise for Franz.

Albert’s Cart and Oxen Disguise Plan

Unable to procure a carriage or horses in Rome, Albert proposes dressing themselves as Neapolitan reapers and traveling in a cart drawn by a pair of oxen, in imitation of a painting by Léopold Robert. He envisions the countess joining them in the costume of a peasant from Puzzoli or Sorrento, making their group complete with herself as a Madonna. Albert has already communicated the plan to their host, Signor Pastrini, who has assured him that a cart and oxen can readily be supplied; the only regret is that the oxen’s horns cannot be gilded, as that would require three days. The host has gone out in search of the equipage and is expected to return shortly.

Count of Monte Cristo Sends a Formal Invitation

Signor Pastrini arrives and announces that he has arranged something even better than a cart: the Count of Monte Cristo, who lives on the same floor, has heard of their dilemma and offers them seats in his carriage and two places at his windows in the Palazzo Rospoli. The friends are astounded. Franz, speaking quietly to Albert, notes that if the count truly merited the landlord’s high praise, he would have conveyed such an offer through a more proper channel rather than in this unceremonious manner. At that moment, a knock sounds at the door, and a servant in a rich and stylish livery enters with two cards—one for Vicomte Albert de Morcerf and one for M. Franz d’Épinay. The servant conveys the Count of Monte Cristo’s request for permission to call upon his neighbors and requests an intimation of when they will be pleased to receive him.

KAPITEL 34. The Colosseum

Franz and Albert accept Count Monte Cristo’s invitation to visit him, with Franz drawn especially by the promise of viewing the executions from the windows of the Palazzo Rospoli, since the details of the condemned recall the conversation he overheard the night before in the Colosseum. The following morning Franz questions his landlord, Signor Pastrini, about the day’s executions, learning from a tavoletta that Andrea Rondolo will be mazzolato and Peppino, an accomplice of the bandit Luigi Vampa, will be decapitato, confirming Franz’s suspicion that the cloaked stranger from the Colosseum and the figure from the Teatro Argentina is none other than their mysterious host. After being shown into the Count’s richly appointed rooms, where they marvel at the luxurious furnishings and briefly hear the sound of a guzla, the two friends finally meet the Count in person, and Franz instantly recognizes him as the man from both prior encounters.

Albert and Franz Accept the Count’s Invitation

Albert whispers to Franz that there is little to criticize about the Count of Monte Cristo’s arrangements, and Franz instructs the servant to tell the count that they will do themselves the pleasure of calling on him. Albert praises the count as a man of first-rate breeding and knowledge of the world, and both young men agree to accept the invitation, with Franz conceding that the windows at the Palazzo Rospoli settled his decision. The mention of those windows, however, stirs a deeper consideration in Franz’s mind.

Franz Recalls His Colosseum Overheard Conversation

The reference to two places at the Palazzo Rospoli triggers Franz’s memory of the conversation he overheard the previous evening in the ruins of the Colosseum, where a mysterious cloaked stranger promised to obtain the freedom of a condemned criminal from a Transteverin. Franz suspects that the muffled figure may be the same person he glimpsed at the Teatro Argentina, and believes that visiting the count will allow him to confirm this identity and continue his investigations with greater ease.