The Count of Monte Cristo

Danglars calls on Monte Cristo to introduce himself. Monte Cristo has his servants tell Danglars he is out, then secretly observes Danglars. Impressed by the beautiful gray horses pulling Danglars’s carriage, Monte Cristo insists on buying them for his own stable. He then returns Danglars’s call, driving the gray horses. Danglars has received a letter from Thomson and French opening an unlimited line of credit for Monte Cristo with Danglars’s firm. Monte Cristo asks for six million from Danglars for his first year in Paris, a request that clearly disconcerts Danglars and puts a grave strain on his resources.

Danglars takes Monte Cristo to meet his wife. The baroness is with Lucien Debray, her lover. The baroness greets Monte Cristo and becomes furious with her husband on learning that he has sold her gray horses to him. The baroness also mentions that she will be lending her carriage to Mme. Villefort, the prosecutor’s second wife, on the following day. Two hours after leaving the Danglars’ house, Monte Cristo sends the gray horses back with diamonds in their harnesses and a gracious note to Mme. Danglars.

The next day, the gray horses run away with the carriage as Mme.