1001 Stories For The Road

CHAPTER 103  MAXIMILIAN Analysis Maximilien flies into a hysterical rage on hearing the news that his intended, Valentine, is dead. He does this in the presence of Villefort, the doctor, and Noirtier. When Villefort and the doctor ask who Morrel is, and why he has been admitted to the house in which the murder has taken place, Morrel asks Noirtier to confirm that he, Morrel, was engaged to Valentine before her death, and that he loved her dearly. Young Morrel is finally able to reveal to Villefort that he has been in love with Valentine all along, and that the two were to be married. Although Young Morrel believes that Valentine has already died, this admission of their love feels like a victory for him, a confirmation that their love, while it lasted, was real. CHAPTER 104  DANGLER'S SIGNATURE The funeral for Valentine commences, and the narrator shifts his attention to a commercial interaction between the Baron Danglars and the Count, who spots him outside his home. The Count says he would like to take up the balance of his initially-requested credit with the Baron, for a sum of 5 million francs, assuming that the Baron has it on hand. The Baron pretends that this is no issue, that he will be able to cash out the receipts the Count holds; but when the Count heads to the Bank of France with these receipts, the Baron is met by Boville, the former inspector of prisons, who is collecting money for a charity hospice. The Count wishes to allow himself the joy of collecting a final amount of money from Danglars that Danglars himself is unable to pay out. This is a mirror and an opposite to the scene far earlier in the text, when the Count, as Lord Wilmore, offers Old Morrel sufficient money to remain open and in business. The Count seems to delight just as much, if not more, in viewing the financial ruin of one family as the financial security of another.     It turns out that this hospice also has 5 million francs drawn on the Baron. This rather complex set of banking conversations reduces to the simple fact that the Baron does not have enough money to cover his debts. He is, in fact, bankrupt. The Count of course knows this, but Boville does not yet, and so the Baron tries to maintain his composure with him during their conversation. He tells Boville, headed to the funeral, that he himself will not be going, that he must instead go back to the office. At home, Danglars takes his remaining funds (about 50,000 francs) and his passport and prepares to leave the country as his daughter Eugenie has just done, presumably to avoid financial ruin. Fernand has committed suicide rather than accept public humiliation for the treachery he engaged in overseas. Caderousse has died, not being given the option to atone for his past crimes, after the Count determined that he was fundamentally beyond redemption. But Danglars tries to take his chances abroad, figuring that if he escapes Paris, he at least has a chance of speculating whatever money he retains in another market, with the hope of regaining some of what he's lost.      

In 101 and 102 the effort to kill Valentine continues....and that'sall I can say here. EXCEPT:PLEASE SEND REVIEWS AND SHARE WITH YOUR PALS !

CHAP 99-THE LAW The Baroness Danglars, unsure what to do with herself and believing that Eugenie and Danglars are both locked in their rooms, first goes to visit Debray. But she finds him out at the club, and so later that day she goes instead to the Villefort home, where she is greeted with suspicion by the servants before finally being allowed into Villefort's study. There, the two old friends and former lovers speak to each other about Benedetto, though they do not know the truth of that man's identity and relation to them. CHAP100   THE APPARITION The narrator moves to Valentine, who has been recuperating in her room at the Villefort home. One night, when Valentine is lying between sleep and wakefulness, the Count (who, as the Abbe, has recently purchased the land next door) comes out of the shadows in her room. He tells her not to fear, that he has been protecting her in the home for the sake of Maximilien Morrel. In the case of Valentine, the Count has turned from an avenging angel to a protector. He sees Valentine as a part of Young Morrel's family, and so the Count has committed himself to making sure that she will suffer no more harm at the hands of the phantom poisoner.     At this Valentine is confused and afraid, for she believes she was naturally sickened by some disease and not poisoned. But the Count convinces her that she has fallen ill of the same ailment that killed her grandparents, and he reminds her that Noirtier had asked her to drink the same drink he himself had been prescribed by the doctor. The Count reveals he has been providing her with another draught of this red potion, designed to counteract any possible poison that might be put into her food or drink. When Valentine asks who in the house could be doing this harm, the Count retreats into the shadows and tells Valentine to pay attention, for the criminal is about to attempt once more act of violence against Valentine.    

CHAP 97  THE DEPARTURE FOR BELGIUM Eugenie shears her hair and says she will dress as a man and accompany Louise to Belgium with what money they can grab. They will live together as partners and musicians, thus earning money to survive. Eugenie's relationship with Louise has, over the course of the novel, seemed like a particularly intense friendship. CHAP 98  THE BELL & BOTTLE TAVERN Analysis Andrea heads away from Paris in a mail coach as fast as he can, and winds up at an inn called the Bell and Bottle. There, he orders a room in the dress of a common bourgeois and makes a plan for the following day: he will move out into the countryside, rent a small shack or room from a peasant, and avoid contact with people as much as is possible. He wakes early in the morning to head out into the countryside. But when he does this, he notices that the inn is swarming with gendarmes. Alarmed, Andrea climbs up onto the roof, then tumbles down and hides in a room of the inn. There, to his surprise, he finds Eugenie and Louise, with Eugenie traveling as a man. Andrea believes, much to the girls' laughter, that they have followed him to the inn because Eugenie is still in love with him. Out of a mixture of condescension and basic fellow-feeling, they tell him to run, but he steps outside and is caught by the gendarmes to be taken back to Paris and tried. This allows Louise and Eugenie to continue their escape to Belgium later that day, as the commotion of the arrest of Andrea has caused enough of a distraction for them to sneak away. It is another of the novel's coincidences that Andrea and Eugenie wind up fleeing to the same inn. But Eugenie and Louise manage to maintain their low profile and to escape to Belgium, whereas Andrea, even though Eugenie tries to help him, will be caught by the authorities. This is an instance in the text where characters appear to receive their just desserts: Andrea, the criminal, will have trouble escaping the law, whereas Eugenie, who has only ever wanted her independence, is able to fight for it and gain it on her own terms. Catch 1001 Classic Short Stories aswe celebrate 2 million listens for the year and our new video ads at Instagram and Facebook~  www.bestof1001stories.com      

CHAP 95  FATHER AND DAUGHTER Eugenie requests a formal meeting with Danglars, in whom she confides that she no longer wishes to marry anyone, especially Andrea Cavalcanti, who seems fine enough to her but has no charm beyond his bare good looks. Danglars, for his part, says that he largely respects Eugenie's wishes, but says that he is ruined financially, and that he needs the capital Andrea can provide in order to guarantee his current loans and speculate on a railway with other investors. He asks Eugenie to go through the motions of signing the contract and marrying Andrea so that this loan and his good name can be secured. This is the first acknowledgment Danglars makes about his financial situation. For many chapters, it has seemed that Danglars has sustained heavy losses on the markets, but he has not yet admitted that these losses are more than he can bear. The Count, then, has succeeded in eroding the Baron's fortunes, forcing the Baron to look for other avenues for wealth – including a marriage to Andrea, whom he believes to be a nobleman.    Eugenie agrees to this, although she insists that she has her own secret plan, which she will not divulge to her father and that will not, she insists, interrupt his plan for obtaining the loan from Andrea. Danglars seems to appreciate this negotiation on Eugenie's part, and they shake hands before Eugenie readies herself to visit the Villeforts with her mother. Danglars seems to respect a certain kind of financial negotiation, as Eugenie has offered her father here. Eugenie seems to know this as well, and so has given herself some bargaining room as she figures out what to do with the idea of a potential marital match to Andrea. Active Themes