The Count of Monte Cristo

The Ghastly Smile

The Ghastly Smile As Monte Cristo delivers his vague promise of future enlightenment, he accompanies it with one of those ghastly smiles that once struck terror into poor Franz d’Épinay, a subtle reminder of the count’s unsettling power over those he encounters.

The Picture Gallery

The Picture Gallery Danglars shifts to small talk, offering to show the count his gallery of paintings by ancient masters—assuring him there is not a single modern work among them. Monte Cristo quips that the modern school has simply not yet had time to grow old.

Introduction to the Baroness

Introduction to the Baroness Declaring the gallery tour something for a later, more familiar day, Danglars offers to introduce the count to the Baroness, treating so valuable a client almost as family. A servant in showy livery confirms the baroness is at home but not alone, and Danglars asks whether Monte Cristo wishes to remain incognito—an offer the count declines with a smile.

Lucien Debray and the Morcerfs

Lucien Debray and the Morcerfs Danglars reveals that the baroness’s visitor is Lucien Debray, private secretary to the Minister of the Interior and an old family friend, and remarks that his wife lowered herself by marrying him, as she is of the ancient Servières family and was previously married to Colonel the Marquis of Nargonne. Monte Cristo mentions having already met Debray at the house of M. de Morcerf, prompting Danglars to recall the young viscount’s miraculous Italian adventure, before the servant announces that her ladyship is ready to receive them.

CHAPITRE 47. The Dappled Grays

This chapter chronicles the Count of Monte Cristo’s visit to the Danglars household, where he is formally introduced to Baroness Danglars, and a conflict erupts over the baroness’s missing pair of prized dappled gray horses. Through a deliberate scheme, Monte Cristo acquires the horses from Baron Danglars at a far higher price than Danglars paid, then returns them to the baroness adorned with valuable diamonds to win her favor, while gaining leverage over the Danglars family’s domestic dynamic. Later, Monte Cristo tasks his servant Ali with stopping a runaway carriage drawn by the same dappled grays, which carries a terrified woman and her unconscious young son, whom the count rescues and tends to. This chapter centers on the aftermath of the runaway dappled gray carriage accident that nearly killed Madame de Villefort and her young son Edward, covering the Count of Monte Cristo’s rescue efforts, the formal introduction between the count and the Villeforts, Ali’s successful pacification of the bolting horses, the rapid spread of the adventure’s story through Parisian high society, and M. de Villefort’s formal evening visit to the count’s residence.

CHAPITRE 47. The Dappled Grays

This chapter chronicles the Count of Monte Cristo’s visit to the Danglars household, where he is formally introduced to Baroness Danglars, and a conflict erupts over the baroness’s missing pair of prized dappled gray horses. Through a deliberate scheme, Monte Cristo acquires the horses from Baron Danglars at a far higher price than Danglars paid, then returns them to the baroness adorned with valuable diamonds to win her favor, while gaining leverage over the Danglars family’s domestic dynamic. Later, Monte Cristo tasks his servant Ali with stopping a runaway carriage drawn by the same dappled grays, which carries a terrified woman and her unconscious young son, whom the count rescues and tends to.

The Boudoir of Madame Danglars

The chapter opens with a detailed description of Madame Danglars’s boudoir: a small octagonal room in the Danglars mansion, lined with pink satin and covered with white Indian muslin, furnished with antique pieces, Boucher-style painted sketches of shepherds and shepherdesses, and matching crayon medallions. It is the only tastefully decorated space in the grand, gaudy mansion, as it was designed entirely by Madame Danglars and Lucien Debray, rather than by Baron Danglars and his fashionable, celebrated decorator, who dismissed its simple elegance. Danglars rarely enters the room, only doing so when bringing guests, and otherwise holds it in contempt. At the time of Monte Cristo’s arrival, Madame Danglars is seated at an elaborate inlaid piano, while Lucien Debray stands at a small worktable flipping through an album. The pair had previously discussed Monte Cristo at length ahead of his visit, with Debray’s excited, embellished accounts of the count’s imposing presence shaping Madame Danglars’s expectations for the meeting.