The Count of Monte Cristo

Count’s Journey to Auteuil

The day after a significant conversation, the Count of Monte Cristo departs for Auteuil, accompanied by Ali and several attendants, and brings horses whose qualities he wishes to test. This journey, unplanned the day before, was prompted by Bertuccio’s arrival from Normandy with news that the house and sloop were ready. The sloop, which had arrived a week earlier, lies at anchor in a small creek with a crew of six men prepared to put to sea at short notice.

Bertuccio’s Travel Preparations

The count praises Bertuccio’s diligence and orders him to prepare for a rapid departure, as the count plans to remain in France no longer than a month. He instructs Bertuccio to station eight fresh horses at villages along the road to Tréport so that he can travel fifty leagues in a single night. Bertuccio confirms that the horses have already been purchased and positioned, satisfying the count, who decides to stay at Auteuil a day or two.

Urgent Anonymous Burglary Warning

As Bertuccio leaves, Baptistin arrives dusty and uninvited, bearing an urgent letter marked “Important and urgent.” The anonymous letter warns the count that a man will enter his Champs-Élysées house that night to steal papers from the secretaire in the dressing-room. The writer urges the count not to involve the police, as their interference could harm the informant, and suggests the count can defend his property himself by watching from the bedroom or hiding in the dressing-room—advice that would allow him to discover an enemy otherwise hidden from him.

Count Rejects Police Assistance

The count first suspects the letter is a ploy to distract him from a greater danger, and considers turning it over to the police. Then he speculates the warning may point to a personal enemy he should recognize and overcome himself, recalling Fiesco’s surprise of a Moorish assassin. Embracing this reasoning and his own daring nature, he decides the intruders are assassins, not thieves, and resolves to handle the matter privately without the prefect of police.

Count’s Secret Return to Paris Residence

Calling Baptistin back, the count orders the entire household to Auteuil, leaving only the porter in Paris. He rejects Baptistin’s concern that the distant lodge would allow thieves to strip the house unseen, saying such a loss would trouble him less than disobedience. He instructs that the ground-floor shutters be closed while the first-floor shutters remain untouched as usual, and announces he will dine alone with Ali as his only attendant. He then slips out through a side gate, makes his way through the Bois de Boulogne, and arrives at twilight opposite his dark Champs-Élysées house, where only the porter’s lodge shows a feeble light. After a careful survey to confirm no one is watching, he enters with Ali by the servants’ staircase, reaching his bedroom unobserved, and double-locks the secretaire in the dressing-room.

Count and Ali Wait for Intruder

Armed with a short carbine, a pair of double-barrelled pistols, and Ali’s small Arabian hatchet, the count positions himself in the bedroom. He and Ali share a crust of bread and a glass of Spanish wine, then the count slides open a movable panel to see into the dressing-room and watches through a bedroom window aligned with the dressing-room window. For two hours they wait in darkness, the count expecting the attack, if it comes, to target his life rather than his money and to approach via the back staircase or the dressing-room window.

Intruder Cuts Dressing Room Window

At a quarter to twelve, the Invalides clock strikes, and the count hears a slight grinding noise in the dressing-room: a practiced hand cutting the four sides of a pane of glass with a diamond. The pane becomes opaque, cracks without falling, and an arm is passed through to find the fastening; a second arm follows, and the window turns on its hinges. A single man enters.

Intruder Revealed as Caderousse

The count notes a second figure posted outside, alerted by Ali, and watches as the intruder moves cautiously through the dark dressing-room, bolting both doors and approaching the secretaire. Finding the key missing, the man produces skeleton keys—thieves’ “nightingales”—and begins picking the lock. Disappointed, the count whispers that the man is “only a thief,” until the intruder activates a dark lantern and the count, recognizing the illuminated face, exclaims in surprise. He orders Ali to put down the hatchet and quickly disguises himself by removing his greatcoat, waistcoat, and shirt to reveal a steel-mail tunic, which he covers with a cassock, wig, and three-cornered hat, transforming himself into Abbé Busoni.