![]() Albert seizes on the news with vehemence and anger. Beauchamp, the journalist, mentions that Danglars recently questioned his "correspondent" in the East about Ali Pasha's betrayal. When Albert hears of this decision, he vows to "find the denouncer" of his father. Within moments, the commission finds him guilty of felony, treason, and dishonor. Then, tearing open his coat, he flees from the room. She identifies Morcerf by saying that her father's assassin has a wide scar on his right hand immediately, Morcerf hides his hand and sinks into a chair, crushed by despair. At last, she says, she has the opportunity to avenge her father's murder. Monte Cristo's slave-girl, Haydée, offers as evidence her birth certificate and her "bill of sale." She is Ali Pasha's daughter, she says, sold by Fernand (de Morcerf) to a slave merchant after her father was assassinated. The commission then produces a witness to substantiate the charges against Morcerf. Furthermore, he resents this anonymous attack on his honor. His defense is that he was Ali Pasha's most trusted confidant to be accused of betrayal is a grave error, for Morcerf tried to defend Ali Pasha, he says, but found him dead and his wife and daughter gone. There is a unanimous demand for an immediate investigation into the entire matter, and that evening, Morcerf presents himself before a twelve-member commission. Morcerf pales immediately, and then his entire body is rocked with a horrible shudder. Within minutes, one of his peers opens the floor for debate on the matter of Ali Pasha's assassination and what role Colonel Fernand Mondego (Morcerf's real name) played in it. His father has such public stature that this scandal, he fears, will soon "echo all over Europe." He is correct.Īlbert's father, meanwhile, reports to the Chamber totally unaware of the incriminating article that has just been published. (We learn later that not only did Fernand betray Ali Pasha, but that he assassinated him.) The implication is that "Count" de Morcerf (who bought his title), a member of the French Parliament, is both a traitor and a fraud. The true identity of Albert's father has been revealed in the Paris press, as well as the fact that years ago when Fernand (de Morcerf) was supposedly defending Ali Pasha's fortress, he betrayed Ali Pasha to the Turks. Monte Cristo murmurs omnisciently that "the sins of the father shall be visited upon the children." His insight is uncanny. Albert reads the first few lines and half-collapses. ![]() ![]() Albert's valet arrives breathlessly from Paris, utterly exhausted from having traveled so far so quickly he has a letter of urgent importance. The following day, after shooting a dozen pheasants and catching a number of trout, Albert's idyllic interlude is cut short. That night, Albert falls asleep, lulled by the sound of waves breaking on the shore. From the terrace overlooking the sea, Albert sees Monte Cristo's yacht, proudly at anchor in the bay. Albert accepts the invitation, and when he arrives there, he is once more in awe of the Count - and of his new estate. One morning, Albert and Beauchamp (the journalist) call on Monte Cristo, and it is soon clear to the Count that Albert is out of sorts, so he invites him to go away with him to his new estate in Normandy, on the coast of France.
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