The Indictment — The Count of Monte Cristo

Judges and jury take their seats in profound silence while M. de Villefort, object of unusual attention, casts a tranquil glance that personal grief has failed to disturb. Gendarmes lead in Benedetto, calm in white waistcoat with one hand on his hat, showing no tremor as every eye fixes on the accused. Villefort reads the indictment with never greater eloquence, painting the prisoner's life in vivid colors until public opinion condemns Andrea before the law can speak.

When the president asks name and age in the usual order, Andrea politely refuses and reorders the testimony. He gives twenty-one years, born the night of the twenty-seventh of September 1817 at Auteuil, and lists forger, thief, and assassin without flinching while Villefort turns livid. He cannot name himself but names his father: the king's attorney, M. de Villefort. He describes the red damask room, the monogrammed napkin, the garden where his father buried him alive, and Bertuccio's rescue after stabbing the procureur that night. Madame Danglars faints unmasked in the gallery as the hall shudders.

Asked for proofs, Andrea points to the prosecutor. Villefort stammers that it is useless, then confesses before the tribunal that everything the young man has said is true and holds himself under his successor's authority. Beauchamp marvels that drama is natural; Debray recalls he once meant to marry Valentine's hand. The president adjourns the sitting for fresh inquiries. Andrea leaves escorted by gendarmes who involuntarily pay him attention while Debray slips a louis to the sergeant and hears there will be extenuating circumstances.