CHAP 82 SUMMARY

Monte Cristo does indeed go to Auteuil to try out some horses. There, however, Baptistin informs him that an anonymous letter has arrived saying that the Count's house in Paris is to be burgled that night. The Count wonders if this note isn't a trap designed to murder him instead. Despite this fear, he tells his servants he will be off in the woods, and goes to Paris straightaway that evening, meeting Ali at the door and then changing into the clothes of Abbe Busoni. Upstairs, he meets Caderousse, who with an accomplice waiting outside has tried his best to steal from his former "friend"—although he does not recognize the Count, but instead thinks it is the Abbe from ten years ago.
This is the first time have actually seen the Count transform into the Abbe Busoni. Previously, the novel has strongly implied that they are the same person, but it is with a certain coyness that the narrator shifts between the identities of the Count and the Abbe, as though leaving open the possibility that they might in fact be two separate people. Caderousse, of course, has met the Abbe before, receiving the diamond from him long ago at the inn, and the Count appears to be setting a particular kind of trap for the man he believes to be breaking into his home.

CHAP83 SUMMARY

While Ali goes out in search of a doctor, the Abbe Busoni tends to the mortally wounded Caderousse. Caderousse asks why the Abbe didn't tell him he could see his accomplice outside, lying in wait to kill him. The Abbe replies that he was waiting for the will of God to be done, and though Caderousse denies that there is anything like God in the world, the Abbe insists that there is, and that it was the Hand of God that resulted in Caderousse's murder. Caderousse then signs another paper, saying he has been hurt by Benedetto while attempting to burgle the Count, and Caderousse says that this Benedetto would indeed have come to murder the Count if given the opportunity.
The Count, disguised here as the Abbe, learns that both Caderousse and Benedetto (or Andrea) had only blood and spoils on their minds. The Abbe makes sure here, as Dantes/the Count has done throughout the novel, to acquire written proof of a statement, which he can then use against the assailant at a later time. This proof helps the Count to build the moral justification for his revenge, which, he believes, carries out the divine will for vengeance against the aggressor, Caderousse.

CHAPTER 81 THE ROOM OF THE RETIRED BAKER Andrea receives his monthly installment from his "father," via the Count, who is managing the income for him by drawing on Danglars' bank. Danglars is convinced that Andrea comes from not one but two rich families, maternal and paternal fortunes both, and so he is growing increasingly willing to marry Eugenie to Andrea. Although the Count appears to be in favor of this match for obscure reasons, he does not wish actually to broker it between Danglars and Andrea.
This is another important yet nearly unnoticeable feature of the Count's behavior during his revenge plot. He does not wish to be the active agent who causes the marriage between Danglars's daughter and Andrea. It's not immediately clear why this is, but as we have seen in the Count's behavior toward Mercedes, it must have something to do with his desire to appear as merely an observer rather than an agent in the vengeance that falls upon the plotters.

Andrea gets word back home that Caderousse has refused his monthly "stipend" of 200 francs. Andrea goes to visit him in his little hut, where he is living as a "retired baker." There, Caderousse says that he has known Danglars and Fernand for many years, although Andrea cannot believe this is true. He says that he wishes to leave Paris, and to do this he needs a nest egg. He asks Andrea to draw a plan of the Count's house for him, which he does—it seems Caderousse is resolved to rob the Count while the Count is at Auteuil. Before Andrea leaves, Caderousse also asks that his monthly allowance be raised to 500 francs, and Andrea grudgingly agrees.
Caderousse has turned from a passive participant in the villainy of others – as during the initial plot against Dantes – to an active plotter himself. He believes that the Count possesses enormous wealth, and he wants some of that wealth. He is willing to do anything he can to grab some of it, even if it means manipulating Andrea into being his accomplice. It seems that a life of crime suits Caderousse after all, and that in Paris he is willing to live out-and-out as a criminal.

CHAP 79 THE LEMONADE

still in a good mood, Maximilien walks to the Villefort home, where he is scheduled to meet with Valentine (who is now free of her engagement to Franz) and Noirtier. Valentine interprets for her grandfather and says that, either when she reaches the age of eighteen or if her father consents, she and Noirtier will move out of the house and Noirtier will serve as her protector. In these new lodgings, with Valentine's independent means from Noirtier and her maternal grandparents, she will receive Morrel as her official suitor, and if their relationship progresses, they can marry. Morrel is overwhelmed at this news and he thanks Noirtier deeply and profusely.
Morrel believes he is one step closer to marrying Valentine. Morrel is frustrated that events do not move more quickly, but he is also motivated by conflicting desires. On the one hand, he loves and is devoted to Valentine because of her firmness of moral resolve; he does not want them to elope. On the other, he feels his love quite passionately, and worries that something might happen in the coming days that will make their marriage impossible – that other people might interfere with their happiness somehow.


Barrois, who is overheated from the summer's day, has a drink of the lemonade found in a jug in Noirtier's room. Suddenly, without warning, he falls over of a stroke, similar to that experienced by the Saint-Merans. The same doctor who warned Villefort of poisoning before happens to be in the house, tending to Edouard, and so he comes down to care for Barrois, but it is too late—he cannot be saved, and he dies of his seizure. The doctor confirms that the lemonade is poisoned by pouring it onto another chemical tincture, causing it to change color. At this incontrovertible proof, Villefort collapses into a chair, for there is "death in his house."
This is an instance of vengeance that has been misplaced. The poisoner in the home, of course, did not intend to harm the servant Barrois, but instead to kill off Noirtier, who stands in the way of Valentine's marriage and her relationship to the other characters in the Villefort home. Although the reader might suspect that Mme de Villefort is the culprit, since she has much to gain from all these poisonings, Villefort himself remains baffled by the events in his home.

CHAP 80 THE ACCUSATION'

In this brief chapter, the doctor continues in his reasoning with Villefort, saying that it must be the case that someone in the house has poisoned the Saint-Merans and Barrois, trying, in the latter case, to poison and finally kill Noirtier. The doctor says that the only logical killer is Valentine—that she apparently did not wish to be married, and was disinherited for a time by Noirtier, and so must have been protecting whatever money would be coming her way from both parties. But while Villefort is momentarily swayed by this, he concludes that Valentine cannot be responsible for these murders, for she is too pure a spirit. The doctor leaves, saying he cannot work in that house anymore, as it is a house of death.
A powerful instance of dramatic irony. While the reader may have guessed that Mme de Villefort is the culprit, the doctor seems to understand Valentine as the only logical answer. It is not clear why Valentine, who till this point has exhibited not a single negative emotion, could be a more plausible killer than Mme de Villefort, who seems devoted to her son's happiness above all else (including Valentine's wellbeing), but this is only to say that both the doctor and Villefort are blind to the events that are unfolding right in front of their eyes.
Active Themes
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The servants, too, begin to leave, and Villefort wonders what will become of the family. He notes that Valentine is desperately sad at what has taken place, thus confirming that she was not in fact responsible for the death. But at the very close of the chapter, Villefort sees a "thin smile" curl across his wife's lips, and he begins to wonder if it is perhaps Heloise who has been orchestrating the poisonings that are ruining his household and threatening its inhabitants.