The Count of Monte Cristo

Peppino Follows Danglars to the Hotel

Peppino bides his time on the hotel bench with a game of morra against the facchini, losing three crowns but consoling himself with a bottle of Orvieto while Danglars sleeps poorly through the night despite retiring early. The following morning, after a hearty breakfast, Danglars orders post-horses at noon, but papal police formalities and the posting-master’s idleness delay the departure until three o’clock.

Danglars Departs Rome for Venice

A crowd gathers as Danglars emerges triumphantly from the hotel, flattered to be called “your excellency” by beggars whom he rewards with silver coins. He orders the Ancona road, intending to travel through Venice to collect part of his fortune before proceeding to Vienna for the remainder and settling there as a man of pleasure. Having slept poorly for several nights, he dozes in the luxurious English calash, occasionally jolted awake by broken aqueducts glimpsed through the window.

Danglars Is Ambushed on the Road

Expecting to wake at a posting-house, Danglars opens his eyes to find the carriage stopped at what seems a ruin where shadowy figures move about. When he opens the door, a strong hand pushes him back and the carriage continues rolling. Questioning the postilion yields only menacing commands of “Dentro la testa!” and Danglars notices cloaked riders flanking both sides of the carriage, eventually realizing they have described a circle and are bringing him back toward Rome.

Danglars Is Taken to the Appian Way Bandit Hideout

Danglars’s terror peaks when the moon reveals ancient monuments and he recognizes Caracalla’s circus, confirming his location on the Appian Way and his fate at the hands of Roman banditti—recalling Albert de Morcerf’s tales. The carriage stops and Danglars descends, following Peppino and three silent sentinels down a path into a hollowed-out bandit lair where sepulchres line the walls like dark eyes, and a sentinel strikes his carbine rings in greeting.