Villefort Questions Monte Cristo’s Motives
Villefort Questions Monte Cristo’s Motives Villefort muses that secrets, like Hamlet’s foul deeds, eventually rise to the surface, though often misleadingly. He reasons that the story may have reached some priest, and thence M. de Monte Cristo, who might simply be seeking to enlighten himself. Yet he puzzles over what interest a Maltese shipowner’s son and discoverer of a Thessalian mine, visiting Paris for the first time, could possibly have in such a gloomy and useless fact. Reassuring himself that no contact could ever have existed between them, he utters words he himself does not quite believe, for he fears not the revelation itself but the identity of the hand that authored it.
Madame de Saint-Méran’s Grieving Arrival
Madame de Saint-Méran’s Grieving Arrival Villefort’s brooding is interrupted by the sound of a carriage and an aged person ascending the stairs amid tears and lamentations. Unannounced, an old lady enters, her shawl on her arm and bonnet in her hand, with white hair swept back from a yellow forehead and grief-swollen eyelids nearly concealing her eyes. She collapses into the nearest chair, crying out that she shall die of her grief. Servants gather at the doorway, including Noirtier’s old servant, drawn by the commotion.
Announcement of M. de Saint-Méran’s Death
Announcement of M. de Saint-Méran’s Death Villefort rises and hurries to his mother-in-law. Upon learning that M. de Saint-Méran is not with her, he presses her for an explanation, and she responds in a stupefied voice that the marquis is dead—so suddenly that Villefort recoils in astonishment, clasping his hands together.
The original text of this work is in the public domain. This page focuses on a guided summary article, reading notes, selected quotes, and visual learning materials for educational purposes.