Count Reveals Custom Sleep Remedy and Emerald Pill Case
Over breakfast, Albert frets that the meal may not suit the count’s tastes, but the count explains he eats all types of food in small portions, noting he has not eaten since the previous morning as he detoured near Nîmes to gather information rather than stopping for a meal. When Morrel asks if he has a way to fall asleep when weary or too hungry to eat, the count reveals he uses an infallible remedy: equal parts pure opium he sourced himself from Canton and high-quality hashish from the region between the Tigris and Euphrates, mixed into small pills that take effect 10 minutes after ingestion. He produces a casket carved from a single large emerald with a golden screw-top lid, holding the greenish pills, which he prepares himself as a chemist. The casket is passed around the table for the guests to admire the exceptional emerald.
Count Recounts Gifting Emeralds to the Sultan and Pope
The count explains he originally owned three identical large emeralds: he gifted one to the Sultan, who mounted it on his sabre, and a second to the Pope, who set it in his tiara opposite a nearly as large but slightly lower-quality emerald that Emperor Napoleon had gifted to Pope Pius VII. He kept the third emerald for himself, hollowing it out to create the pill casket, sacrificing some of the stone’s monetary value for the practical purpose of storing his sleep remedy. He adds that the Sultan granted him the liberty of a woman in exchange for his emerald, while the Pope granted him the life of a man, making him feel as powerful as if he had been born to a throne.
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