The Count of Monte Cristo

第三章 The Catalans

Chapter 3 introduces the Catalans, a mysterious enclave outside Marseilles descended from Spanish settlers who long ago beached their small vessels on a barren promontory. The chapter shifts from the tavern scene into the village itself, where the love triangle at the heart of the story unfolds: Mercédès, a young Catalan woman of mixed heritage, is courted by her cousin Fernand but loves Edmond Dantès, the young sailor recently returned from the voyage of the Pharaon. Their reunion before the jealous Fernand sets the stage for the resentment that will follow. The chapter closes in a shady arbor, where Fernand, Caderousse, and Danglars drink together, their envy and wounded pride hinting at darker designs against the fortunate Dantès.

The Village of the Catalans

The chapter opens beyond a weather-worn wall about a hundred paces from where Danglars and Caderousse have been drinking. There lies the village of the Catalans, a small, isolated colony that long ago left Spain, settled on a barren promontory granted by the commune of Marseilles, and built its half-Moorish, half-Spanish houses around the boats that had carried them there. For three or four centuries, the Catalans have preserved their own language, customs, costume, and the custom of intermarrying among themselves, while keeping apart from the surrounding Marseillaise population. The narrator invites the reader into one of these sunburned houses, whitewashed within like a Spanish posada, where a strikingly beautiful young girl with jet-black hair and large velvety eyes, Mercédès, sits stripping heath blossoms from a stem while a tall young man of about twenty, Fernand, watches her in vexation and unease from a tilted chair at a worm-eaten table.