The Count of Monte Cristo

Relays and Vessels Kept Ready

The steward confirms that he saw the corvette put to sea the same evening they quit Marseilles. The yacht was ordered to remain at Martigues, and the steamboat is at Châlons. The count instructs Bertuccio to write from time to time to the captains in charge of the two sailing vessels to keep them on the alert, and to give the same orders to the steamboat. He further requires that, once the estate is purchased, constant relays of horses be established at ten leagues apart along both the northern and southern roads. Bertuccio pledges to see to all of it. The count, with a gesture of satisfaction, descends the terrace steps and springs into his carriage, which is whirled swiftly toward the banker’s house.

Danglars and the Unlimited Credit

Danglars, presiding over a railroad committee, is on the point of concluding the meeting when his visitor is announced. Addressing his colleagues—members of one or the other Chamber—he explains the ridiculous circumstance that has occurred: Thomson & French, the Roman bankers, have sent him a certain person calling himself the Count of Monte Cristo and have given him an unlimited credit. He confesses this is the drollest thing he has encountered in his extensive foreign dealings, and greatly has it roused his curiosity. He took the trouble that morning to call upon the pretended count, for if he were a real count he would not be so rich. But, would they believe it, “He was not receiving.” So the master of Monte Cristo gives himself the airs of a great millionaire or a capricious beauty. Danglars has made inquiries and found that the house in the Champs-Élysées is his own property and is decently kept up, but an order for unlimited credit calls for caution on the part of the banker, and he is very anxious to see this man. He suspects a hoax is intended, but the instigators little know whom they have to deal with: “They laugh best who laugh last!” Uttering this with energy that leaves him nearly breathless, he bows to the assembled party and withdraws to his drawing-room, whose sumptuous white-and-gold furnishings have caused a great sensation in the Chaussée d’Antin.