The Count of Monte Cristo

Villefort’s Introduction to the King Despite Uncourty Attire

Blacas returns with speed but encounters difficulty in the antechamber. Villefort’s dusty garb and uncourtly attire offend M. de Brezé, the master of ceremonies, who is all astonishment that such a young man would dare enter before the king in such clothing. The duke overcomes these objections with a single word: the king’s order. Despite the master’s of ceremonies’ protestations for the honor of his office, Villefort is admitted. The king remains seated where Blacas left him, and when the door opens, Villefort finds himself face to face with the monarch. His first impulse is to pause, but Louis XVIII invites him in warmly. The king notes that the Duc de Blacas assures him Villefort has interesting information to communicate. Villefort confirms this and expresses his hope that his haste has prevented the situation from becoming irreparable. The king, beginning to show the emotion visible on Blacas’s face and affecting Villefort’s voice, asks him to speak fully and begin at the beginning, as he likes order in everything.

Villefort Delivers Urgent Report of Bonapartist Conspiracy

Villefort begins his report, entreating forgiveness if anxiety causes obscurity in his language. He announces he has discovered not a commonplace plot from the lower ranks and army, but an actual conspiracy—a storm threatening the king’s throne. The usurper Bonaparte is arming three ships and meditates a project, possibly terrible, to leave Elba for unknown destinations, potentially landing at Naples, on the Tuscan coast, or even on French shores. Louis XVIII reveals recent information about Bonapartist clubs meeting at Rue Saint-Jacques. Villefort explains that he obtained these details through examining a Marseille man he had watched and arrested on departure day—a sailor of turbulent character suspected of Bonapartism who secretly visited Elba. There he saw the grand-marshal and received an oral message for a Bonapartist in Paris, though Villefort could not extract the recipient’s name. The mission was to prepare men’s minds for Napoleon’s return, which will soon occur. The king asks where this man is, and Villefort reveals he is in prison. Villefort then explains he left his betrothal celebration and bride to bring this urgent intelligence, proving his devotion to the throne.