The Count of Monte Cristo

Discovering Abbé Faria’s Manuscript

After recounting the sailor’s fate and confirming that his name was known only as No. 34, the concierge leads Monte Cristo through a subterranean passage to Abbé Faria’s cell. There, the Count sees the meridian drawn on the wall and the bed on which the old priest died, and tears fall from his eyes. The concierge, who has sounded the walls and uncovered a hollow near the bed and hearth, offers him what remains: a manuscript written on strips of cloth. When the Count seizes it, he recognizes the great work of Abbé Faria on the kingdoms of Italy. He kneels by the bed, now an altar, and implores the spirit of his second father to grant him some sign that will dissolve his doubt before it hardens into remorse. The concierge returns with the manuscript, and the Count’s eyes immediately fall upon its epigraph.

第一百十三章 The Past

Chapter 113, titled “The Past,” follows the Count of Monte Cristo as he departs Marseilles for Italy after a profound encounter with the grief-stricken Maximilian Morrel. The chapter weaves together the Count’s own tragic history with his effort to console Morrel, ultimately arranging a future meeting on the Island of Monte Cristo and leaving the young man to face his sorrow alone.

The Count Receives a Prophecy and Departs for Marseilles

The Count receives what he interprets as a divine answer, exclaiming thanks and retrieving a pocket-book containing ten bank-notes of 1,000 francs each, which he gives to his informant on the condition that it not be opened until he is gone. He departs by boat for Marseilles, fixing his eyes on the gloomy prison that once held him and pronouncing a curse of woe upon those who confined him and those who forgot his imprisonment. As he passes the Catalans, he buries his head in his cloak and murmurs tenderly the name of Haydée, twice overcoming his doubts in complete victory.