Welcome at the Inn
Welcome at the Inn A huge black dog named Margotin rushes out, snarling and displaying sharp white teeth in determined hostility, but a heavy footstep is heard descending from the upper floor, and Caderousse emerges with many bows and courteous smiles, inviting the guest to enter. He exclaims welcomes to the astonished traveler, quiets the dog, and offers a glass of good wine against the dreadful heat. Upon noticing the priest’s garb, he hastily apologizes for not observing sooner, asking what refreshment he can offer, declaring all he has is at his service.
The Priest’s Inquiries
The Priest’s Inquiries The priest gazes searchingly at Caderousse, appearing to court a similar scrutiny, then terminates the silence by speaking with a strong Italian accent, asking if he is M. Caderousse. Caderousse confirms he is Gaspard Caderousse. The priest repeats the name, observing that Christian and surname match, and asks if he formerly lived in the Allées de Meilhan on the fourth floor, following the tailoring business. Caderousse confirms both, mentioning the trade fell off due to the heat at Marseilles, and again offers refreshment. The priest requests a bottle of his best wine, and they resume their conversation.
Caderousse and Dantès
Caderousse and Dantès After Caderousse retrieves a bottle of Cahors from a trap-door, he finds the abbé seated on a stool, with the appeased dog Margotin nestled between his knees. The priest asks if Caderousse is quite alone, learning that his wife is ill and bedridden. Asks if he is married, observing the scanty furnishings. Caderousse sighs that he is not a rich man, but says a man does not thrive the better for being honest, sustaining the abbé’s searching gaze and claiming to be an honest man, though he allows that not everyone can say as much.
The Fate of Edmond Dantès
The Fate of Edmond Dantès The abbé remarks that the good will be rewarded and the wicked punished, to which Caderousse bitterly replies that such words belong to the priest’s profession and one is free to believe them. The priest declares he can perhaps prove him wrong, then states he must first be satisfied that Caderousse is the person he seeks, asking if he knew a young sailor named Dantès around 1814 or 1815. Caderousse flushes and exclaims that Edmond was his intimate friend. The priest reveals that Dantès died a wretched, hopeless, heart-broken prisoner at the galleys of Toulon, and Caderousse, deathly pale, wipes tears from his eyes with his red handkerchief, murmuring that good people are never rewarded on earth.
The Diamond
The Diamond The priest continues that Dantès, even in dying, swore he was ignorant of the cause of his detention, which Caderousse affirms was the truth. Dantès had besought the priest to clear up the mystery and his memory. A rich Englishman, Dantès’s fellow prisoner released during the second restoration, possessed a diamond of immense value, which he gave to Dantès as gratitude for nursing him through a severe illness. Dantès preserved it rather than risk having it taken by treacherous jailers, intending to use the proceeds to make his fortune upon release. Caderousse, with eager, glowing looks, asks if it was a stone of immense value.
CHAPITRE 26. The Pont du Gard Inn
Chapter 26, “The Pont du Gard Inn,” unfolds within the inn where Caderousse and his wife La Carconte reside. The Abbé Faria (disguised) visits to question Caderousse about Edmond Dantès, his deceased friends, and the circumstances of old Dantès’s death, while revealing a valuable diamond left as a bequest. The chapter traces Caderousse’s growing cupidity, his wife’s persistent warnings to stay silent, and culminates with Caderousse yielding to temptation and beginning to recount the full story of the betrayals that ruined Dantès.
The Diamond Revealed
The Abbé reveals the diamond he carries, valued at fifty thousand francs, drawing it from a small shagreen case set in a ring of fine workmanship. Caderousse stares with hungry fascination as the jewel’s brilliant hues dazzle him, and the Abbé explains that Edmond named him as one of four faithful friends, alongside Danglars, Fernand, and Mercédès. Caderousse visibly shivers upon hearing himself named as a beneficiary.
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