The Trial — The Count of Monte Cristo

At eight in the morning Albert bursts into Beauchamp's house while Beauchamp is still in his bath. Beauchamp expected him. Two days earlier a government newspaper republished the Yanina charge with documents from a man who had just arrived from Greece. Beauchamp rushed to the editor's office but learned the paper had full proofs. Beauchamp's opposition journal had stopped for lack of proof, but this official journal could not be ignored. In the Chamber of Peers, members arrived early and whispered about one of their own. The Count of Morcerf knew nothing. He had spent the morning writing letters and trying a horse.

When the article was read, Morcerf turned white at the names Yanina and Colonel Fernand. He demanded an immediate investigation and said he would answer that very day. That evening a committee of twelve met at eight o'clock. Morcerf entered in full uniform, calm and proud. He showed Ali Pasha's ring and letters and spoke with great skill about his service and his innocence. For a moment Albert's father seemed saved. Then the president opened a letter. A witness who had been present at Ali's death was waiting in the lobby. The committee agreed to hear her.

A veiled young woman entered dressed in Greek costume. She threw back her veil and said she was Haydee, daughter of Ali Tepelini and Vasiliki. She was four when her father died but remembered everything. She handed over her birth register, baptism record, and the Arabic sale document. The translator read how the French colonel Fernand Mondego sold her and her mother to the merchant El-Kobbir for four hundred thousand francs. Haydee pointed to the scar on Morcerf's hand. Morcerf could only whisper that he had no reply. The committee voted unanimously to convict him of felony and treason. Haydee left without joy or pity.

Beauchamp tells Albert all of this in painful detail while the young man trembles between hope and shame. Albert listens with hope, then anger, then shame, because he now knows his father is guilty. Beauchamp says the witness was noble and pursued paternal vengeance. Albert cannot accept that Providence alone struck the blow. He must find the human enemy behind the scandal before he can act.