The Count of Monte Cristo

Taking the Name Herrera

Albert declares he must abandon the family name, which he cannot bear given his father’s shameful conduct. Mercédès offers her father’s name—Herrera—suggesting her son can render it illustrious through his future career. She encourages him to break with former friends but not to despair, reminding him he is barely twenty-two years old with life ahead. She accepts that she herself has no future, only the grave awaiting her beyond this house’s threshold. Albert agrees to fulfill all her wishes and share her hopes, proposing they act promptly while his father is away.

Preparations to Depart

Mother and son prepare to leave immediately. Mercédès declares herself ready, and Albert rushes to fetch a carriage. He recalls a small furnished house available on the Rue des Saints-Pères where his mother might find humble but decent lodging. As the carriage arrives and Albert alights, Bertuccio approaches with a letter from the Count of Monte Cristo. Albert takes the letter, opens it, reads it, and looks around for Bertuccio, but the messenger has vanished.

A Letter from Monte Cristo

The letter reveals Monte Cristo has discovered Albert and Mercédès’s plans to leave. Monte Cristo writes that Albert owes his mother more than his noble heart can repay, and he should bear the struggle himself rather than let her suffer poverty. He offers his treasure, which he buried twenty-four years earlier in a garden at his father’s house in Marseilles—an iron box containing a hundred and fifty louis meant for the woman he adored. Monte Cristo appeals to Albert’s generosity, warning he will find it ungenerous if Albert refuses what he has a right to offer, given what Albert’s father did to him.