Three days after Eugénie's bargain, Andrea Cavalcanti calls on Monte Cristo at five in the afternoon, dressed for a princess wedding. He asks the count to stand as father at the altar since his real father will not travel; Monte Cristo refuses with Eastern scruples but promises to attend, sign the contract, and arrive like all Paris. Their talk turns to millions: railway grants, hidden fortunes, marriage settlements, and Andrea's unease when Danglars may invest the dowry in the same speculative line. Monte Cristo coldly strips Andrea's claim to patronage, reminding him that Wilmore and Busoni made the introduction and that he personally owes the count nothing. Andrea leaves for a triumphal afternoon of visits, dazzling society with promised railway shares.
At half past eight the Danglars mansion fills with jewel-colored Paris, deputies, Opera dandies, and the Endymion clock striking nine as Monte Cristo enters pale in black. Eugénie wears white silk and a white rose with steady eyes; Andrea boasts of a hundred seventy-five thousand livres per annum while Danglars explains tax theories to men of revenue. The notaries arrange gilt papers on the lion-footed table, and a profound silence falls while the contract is read and millions roll through the gossiping rooms.
When the baroness signs, Monte Cristo interrupts with Villefort's absence: he tells how Caderousse died in the robbery attempt, how police missed a bloody waistcoat now found with a hole over the heart, and how a letter to Danglars was sent as circumstantial evidence to the king's attorney. Andrea pales and slips toward the door as the count names the felon Caderousse and Danglars recalls the old galley-slave. Madame Danglars faints; the baron still hunts Prince Cavalcanti to sign.
Soldiers and a commissary enter as the last name is called. They ask for Andrea Cavalcanti; he is gone. The officer announces a galley-slave escaped from Toulon, accused of murdering Caderousse during the escape from Monte Cristo's house. Guests flee like plague while the count watches calmly and Danglars learns too late who stood at his contract table.
Coming Up in Chapter 97
Minutes after guests flee the Danglars salons like plague, Eugénie will lock her door with Louise, cut her hair for men's clothes, bribe the sleeping porter, and order a post-chaise toward Belgium while Danglars makes statements upstairs.
