Danglars’ Ascent to Wealth, Baronage, and Court Influence
Caderousse recounts Danglars’ rapid rise to wealth and status after leaving Marseilles. Unaware of his role in Dantès’ arrest, M. Morrel recommended Danglars as a cashier at a Spanish bank. During the war with Spain, Danglars worked in the French army commissariat and built a large fortune, then tripled or quadrupled his capital through stock market speculation. He first married his banker’s daughter, and after she died, married Madame de Nargonne, daughter of the king’s chamberlain who holds high court favor. He was granted the title of baron, now lives in a luxurious residence on the Rue du Mont-Blanc, owns ten horses, six footmen, and holds a vast fortune in his strongbox.
Fernand’s Military Career and Rise to Count and Legion of Honor
Caderousse describes Fernand’s unlikely ascent from a poor, uneducated Catalan fisherman to a high-ranking military noble. Drafted into the army before the emperor’s return, he fought at the Battle of Ligny, where he was stationed as sentry outside the door of a general secretly plotting to defect to the English. Fernand agreed to accompany the general in his desertion. When the Bourbon monarchy was restored, this act was rewarded rather than punished: with the general’s high-level protection, Fernand became a captain by 1823, served in the Spanish war, where he reconnected with Danglars. He used his knowledge of local mountain paths to guide royalist forces through gorges held by enemy combatants, and after the taking of Trocadero, was promoted to colonel, granted the title of count, and made an officer of the Legion of Honor.
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