The Mysterious Lodger
The first floor of the house on the Rue Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where Albert de Morcerf has settled his mother, is occupied by a mysterious gentleman whose face the concierge has never seen. In winter he buries his chin in a large red handkerchief, and in summer he conveniently blows his nose as he approaches the door. Rumored to be a person of high rank who demands strict incognito, he is left unwatched. He arrives at four o’clock with clockwork regularity, though he never spends the night, and a discreet servant ensures that a fire is lit in winter or ices are laid out in summer by half-past three.
The Veiled Lady
About twenty minutes after the mysterious gentleman arrives, a carriage draws up and a lady alights, always dressed in black or dark blue and heavily veiled. She glides through the lodge like a shadow, ascends without a sound, and taps in a peculiar manner at the first-floor door. Her face, like that of the gentleman, remains unknown to the discretion-perfect concierges. She departs first, her carriage driving off unpredictably to the right or left, and the gentleman follows shortly after, well muffled in his cravat or handkerchief.
Lucien Debray
The day after Monte Cristo’s visit to Danglars, the mysterious lodger arrives at ten in the morning instead of his usual four o’clock. A cab soon arrives and the veiled lady hurries upstairs, crying out, “Oh, Lucien—oh, my friend!”—revealing the lodger’s name to the concierge, who vows silence to his wife. Lucien, identified as Lucien Debray, calms the agitated woman, who confides that a great event has occurred. Their conversation centers on Danglars’s sudden departure and the unsettling letter he has left behind for his wife.
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