The Count of Monte Cristo

Morrel Threatens Suicide Over the Upcoming Marriage

Morrel, his calmness masking a desperate resolve, declares that if Valentine submits to the marriage he will have no further reason to live. He details his plan: he will wait until the very moment she is wed, clinging to the slender hope of some miraculous chance that might prevent it, and when all hope is lost he will write farewell letters to his brother-in-law and the prefect of police before taking his own life in some solitary place. His words are spoken with such chilling tranquility that Valentine understands his intention is not mere rhetoric.

Valentine Promises to Flee with Morrel to Avoid the Wedding

Valentine, breaking under the weight of her love, abandons her resistance and swears she will be Morrel’s. She promises that if her prayers and entreaties fail to delay the contract signing—if her father and Madame de Saint-Méran insist—she will go to Morrel and they will fly together. She names the notary M. Deschamps as the one who will confirm the time of the signing, arranges for a carriage to await her at the gate, and the two exchange a near-kiss through the barrier before parting with the words “Adieu, then, till we meet again.”

第七十三章 The Promise

After exchanging vows, Valentine flees and later sends Morrel a letter informing him that her family has fixed the signing of her marriage contract to Franz for that evening at nine o’clock, and that she will meet him at a quarter to nine at the gate so they can escape together. Morrel prepares for their flight by hiding ladders in a clover-field and arranging a servantless cabriolet, but when he positions himself at the appointed place and the appointed hour passes without Valentine appearing, his anxiety gives way to dread. Driven by fear that something terrible has happened, he scales the wall into the Villefort garden, where he conceals himself among the trees and overhears the procureur speaking with Doctor d’Avrigny about the sudden death of Madame de Saint-Méran; the doctor confides that her symptoms are consistent with poisoning by brucine or strychnine, and suggests that the old servant Barrois may have mistakenly given her a dose prepared for the paralyzed M. Noirtier, leaving Villefort paralyzed with grief and torn between the need for a discreet inquiry and his dread of scandal.