The Count of Monte Cristo

Monte Cristo Presents Caderousse’s Bloodied Waistcoat

Monte Cristo, who has been silent throughout most of the gathering, announces that the waistcoat overlooked by the police after Caderousse’s death was discovered that day, soaked in blood and pierced over the heart. He explains that his valet, examining the garment, found a letter in its pocket addressed to Baron Danglars—stained with blood and only decipherable with effort—and that he has forwarded the waistcoat and letter to the king’s attorney as circumstantial evidence. Madame Danglars, Danglars, and the assembled guests react with shock and alarm at the count’s disclosure, while the baroness questions how this could affect Monsieur de Villefort.

Andrea Panics as the Evidence is Unfolded

As Monte Cristo unfolds the details of the waistcoat and the letter, Andrea grows increasingly pale, reads the gathering storm of danger in the room, and quietly slips away through a second drawing-room and into the anteroom beyond. His reaction—watching Monte Cristo intently and then vanishing—signals to the reader that he is the intended target of the count’s calculated revelation, even as Danglars murmurs a vague recollection that the murdered man was an old galley-slave named Caderousse.

The Notary Summons Andrea to Sign the Contract

Determined to press forward despite the disturbance, Monte Cristo urges the company to continue signing the contract and apologizes to the baroness and Mademoiselle Danglars for the emotion his story has caused. After the baroness signs and returns the pen to the notary, the notary calls for “Prince Cavalcanti” to take his turn, joined by the younger guests who call Andrea familiarly by his Christian name. Danglars dispatches a flunkee to fetch the missing young man, unaware that Andrea has already fled.