La Mazzolata — The Count of Monte Cristo

Franz and Albert visit the Count of Monte Cristo to thank him for the carriage and Palazzo Rospoli windows. The Count greets them like an old friend and invites them to breakfast. Franz says nothing about recognizing him from Monte Cristo, the Colosseum, or the opera. He watches instead. The Count's servant Bertuccio is the same smuggler who once led Franz into Sinbad's grotto.

Over breakfast the talk turns grim. The Count speaks calmly about executions around the world. He asks whether a quick death can ever repay years of betrayal and suffering. Franz feels a chill when the Count describes revenge in cold detail. Albert at first plans to skip the scaffold, but the Count's strange eloquence changes his mind. A man dressed as a penitent friar arrives with a secret message, and the Count sends him away without explanation.

They walk down the Corso toward the Piazza del Popolo. Franz glances at the Count's windows and sees white damask with a red cross, exactly as he heard promised in the Colosseum. The square is packed with people treating the execution like the opening act of Carnival. Two prisoners are led out: Peppino, the young bandit, and Andrea, a brutal murderer.

At the last moment a priest brings Peppino a pardon. The crowd cheers while Andrea screams that they should die together. Guards drag him to the scaffold. The executioner strikes him with the mace, then finishes the job with a knife. Franz nearly faints. Albert turns away. The Count alone watches without flinching, his face alive with terrible pleasure, and tells Franz that a man who would not share his companion's death deserves no pity.