The Carnival at Rome — The Count of Monte Cristo

The scaffold is gone and Carnival floods Rome again. The Count tells Franz and Albert to dress for masks as if the execution were only a bad dream. They ride into the Corso through a storm of confetti, harlequins, and shouting carriages. The Count lends them his coach, his bear-skinned driver, and windows at the Palazzo Rospoli, then vanishes into a blue domino beside the white damask signal Franz already knows.

Albert flirts with a carriage of Roman peasant girls and wins a bunch of violets. At the opera Franz introduces him to Countess G, who still calls the Count a vampire. Pastrini supplies ready-made peasant costumes, and the Count lets the friends keep his carriage for the whole festival. Albert receives a secret letter fixing a Tuesday rendezvous at the church of San Giacomo, with rose-colored ribbons as the sign. Franz agrees to watch from the windows while Albert plays the lover.

On the last day of Carnival the city turns wilder still. Horse races clear the Corso, then thousands of moccoli candles blaze from balcony to balcony while everyone tries to keep a flame and blow out a neighbor's. Franz spends part of the day at the Vatican, but Albert keeps chasing the calash of peasants and their fresh violets.

At seven o'clock Albert jumps down in the Via dei Pontefici with his candle burning. A peasant mask snatches the light, takes his arm, and leads him into the crowd. A moment later the retreat bell sounds. Every flame dies at once. Franz stands in sudden darkness, alone, while his friend has disappeared into the night.