The Count of Monte Cristo

Danglars Visits Thomson & French Bank

Impatient, Danglars leaves the hotel on foot with his cicerone, ordering the carriage to follow or wait at the bank, and arrives before it. He enters Thomson & French and announces himself as “Baron Danglars,” then disappears through an inner door led by an attendant while his shadow follows him in and sits silently on a bench in the anteroom.

Peppino Tails Danglars Into the Bank

Peppino, the man who has tailed Danglars, takes a seat on a bank anteroom bench while his French mark is conducted to an inner room. After five minutes of silent waiting, the confidential clerk at the first desk greets Peppino familiarly by name, revealing that Peppino has come to learn what business the large Frenchman transacts at the bank. The clerk explains that bandits were pre-informed of the arrival but needs to observe the transaction to learn the exact sum.

Peppino Learns of Danglars’ Large Withdrawal

After ten minutes, the clerk returns beaming with news that the sum is enormous—five or six millions—drawn on the receipt of the Count of Monte Cristo. Peppino learns the precise amount of five millions and, upon Danglars emerging radiant with joy, follows him out of the bank, the banker clutching a letter in his pocketbook.

Danglars Returns to His Hotel

Back at the Hôtel d’Espagne, Danglars leaps into the waiting carriage and, when asked about sightseeing, declares he came not to see but to “touch,” rapping his pocketbook. He orders the driver to return to the hotel, “Casa Pastrini.” Ten minutes later, the baron retires to his room and places his pocketbook under his pillow, while Peppino stations himself outside the door after whispering instructions to one of the descendants of Marius and the Gracchi, who runs toward the Capitol.