The Departure for Belgium — The Count of Monte Cristo

Minutes after Andrea is named a murderer, guests flee the Danglars mansion as if plague had struck, leaving Danglars with gendarmes, Madame Danglars terrified in her boudoir, and Eugénie locked in her room with Louise d'Armilly. Louise gasps that Cavalcanti was a convict; Eugénie smiles ironically, says she escaped Morcerf only to fall into Cavalcanti, and declares she despises men enough to leave. She tells Louise they will do what they planned three days ago and set off, treating the scandal as the excuse God sent rather than the ruin her father feared.

The post-chaise was bought in advance; Eugénie produces Monte Cristo's passport for M. Léon d'Armilly, profession artist, travelling with his sister, procured when she asked the count for theatre letters and feared travelling as a woman. They count forty-five thousand francs in notes and jewels, divide money and gems between them, and pack a trunk while servants gossip downstairs. Eugénie kneels on the portmanteau like Hercules, cuts her magnificent braids without regret, and dresses in complete men's clothes with a promptness that shows this was not her first disguise.

At midnight they slip past the sleeping porter, Eugénie calling Gate in contralto while Louise slides through like a snake. They hire a post-chaise through a warned laundress, tell the postilion Fontainebleau to mislead a possible betrayer, then pass the Barrière Saint-Martin while Louise breathes that they are out of Paris. Eugénie jokes that their abduction is accomplished without violence and will plead extenuating circumstances; the carriage rolls toward La Villette, and M. Danglars no longer has a daughter.