The Count of Monte Cristo

Urgent Anonymous Burglary Warning

As Bertuccio leaves, Baptistin arrives dusty and uninvited, bearing an urgent letter marked “Important and urgent.” The anonymous letter warns the count that a man will enter his Champs-Élysées house that night to steal papers from the secretaire in the dressing-room. The writer urges the count not to involve the police, as their interference could harm the informant, and suggests the count can defend his property himself by watching from the bedroom or hiding in the dressing-room—advice that would allow him to discover an enemy otherwise hidden from him.

Count Rejects Police Assistance

The count first suspects the letter is a ploy to distract him from a greater danger, and considers turning it over to the police. Then he speculates the warning may point to a personal enemy he should recognize and overcome himself, recalling Fiesco’s surprise of a Moorish assassin. Embracing this reasoning and his own daring nature, he decides the intruders are assassins, not thieves, and resolves to handle the matter privately without the prefect of police.

Count’s Secret Return to Paris Residence

Calling Baptistin back, the count orders the entire household to Auteuil, leaving only the porter in Paris. He rejects Baptistin’s concern that the distant lodge would allow thieves to strip the house unseen, saying such a loss would trouble him less than disobedience. He instructs that the ground-floor shutters be closed while the first-floor shutters remain untouched as usual, and announces he will dine alone with Ali as his only attendant. He then slips out through a side gate, makes his way through the Bois de Boulogne, and arrives at twilight opposite his dark Champs-Élysées house, where only the porter’s lodge shows a feeble light. After a careful survey to confirm no one is watching, he enters with Ali by the servants’ staircase, reaching his bedroom unobserved, and double-locks the secretaire in the dressing-room.