The Count of Monte Cristo

第九十八章 The Bell and Bottle Tavern

This chapter centers on Andrea Cavalcanti, whose ill-timed interruption of his social rise comes after he steals the bridal corbeille (trousseau) from the disrupted Danglars salon. The narrative tracks his frantic escape from Paris, travel via hired cab and stolen horse to the Bell and Bottle tavern in Compiègne, his detailed plan to disguise himself as a woodcutter and flee across the French frontier, and the arrival of gendarmes at the inn pursuing him as the wanted murderer of Caderousse.

Theft of the Corbeille

Amid the chaos of the disrupted Danglars salon, Andrea passes through a room displaying the bride-elect’s luxurious trousseau, or corbeille, filled with diamonds, Valenciennes lace, cashmere shawls, English veils, and other high-value valuables. Taking advantage of the confusion, he helps himself to the most expensive ornaments from the collection before fleeing the premises.

Fleeing the Salon

After stealing the corbeille, Andrea leaps from a salon window and flees on foot, driven solely by the need to avoid the gendarmes he knows will be dispatched to the scene. He walks for a quarter of an hour through Paris streets, guided by instinct to take the safest path away from the theft, before stopping breathless at the end of Rue La Fayette, uncertain of his next move.

The Paris Cab

While paused at the end of Rue La Fayette, Andrea spots a slow-moving cab at the top of Faubourg Poissonnière, driven by an exhausted cabman who has earned only 7 francs all day. Andrea offers to add 20 francs to the driver’s meager earnings if he will take him towards Louvres, claiming he is trying to overtake a friend who was supposed to meet him with a cabriolet but left early.