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André Cavalcanti's Reunion

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Brief overview

Monte Cristo stages a fake father-and-son reunion, paying two impostors to play Cavalcanti nobility in Paris.

  1. Both Cavalcanti are hired impostorsAlone and in Italian, Andrea admits fifty thousand francs a year to be a son, and the Major fifty thousand francs down to be a father.
  2. Anonymous letters set the whole machine runningAn Abbe wrote to the Major and Lord Wilmore, alias Sinbad the Sailor, wrote to Andrea, each letter naming the Count's address and enclosing drafts.
  3. Monte Cristo watches and despises what he builtHe spies through a panel contrived to look like a picture, then says disgust is even more sickening than hatred.
Executive Summary AI
  • Chapter 56 of Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo opens with the Count receiving a young man of elegant appearance who calls himself Count Andrea Cavalcanti and carries a letter of introduction signed "Sinbad the Sailor", which the Count explains is the eccentric English millionaire Lord Wilmore.
  • Andrea tells the story he has been given: he descends from the Cavalcanti inscribed in the golden book at Florence, his father's income amounts to half a million, and he was carried off by his tutor at five years old and has not seen his father for fifteen years.
  • Monte Cristo says the father, Major Bartolommeo Cavalcanti, is in the next room, describes how a ransom was sent to the frontier of Piedmont and the young man's route traced from Nice through Genoa, Turin and Chambry, and advises him never to divulge a word of these adventures in Paris.
  • The Count promises an allowance of fifty thousand livres a year while Andrea stays in Paris, secured by Lord Wilmore through an account of six thousand francs a month at Monsieur Danglars's bank, the father's own income being five hundred thousand francs.
  • Watching through a hidden opening in a panel, Monte Cristo sees the pair embrace like actors and then, speaking Italian and believing themselves alone, admit they are paid fifty thousand francs a year and fifty thousand francs down to play father and son; he invites them to dine at Auteuil on Saturday with Danglars, and once they leave calls them "two miscreants".
Key Quote
“But if I were you, I would not divulge a word of these adventures.”
— Monte Cristo
Key Quote
“He is a millionaire. His income is five hundred thousand francs.”
— Monte Cristo
Key Quote
“They give me fifty thousand francs a year to be your son.”
— André

Transcript

0:00 THE COUNT OF MONTECRISTO by ALEXANDRA DUMAS.
0:22 CHAPTER LIV. Alexandra Dumas. Chapter 56. André Cavalcanti.
0:31 The Count of Monte Cristo entered the adjoining room which Baptistein had designated as the drawing-room, and found there a young man, of graceful demeanour and elegant appearance,
0:36 who had arrived in a cab about half an hour previously. Baptistein had not found any
0:42 difficulty in recognising the person who presented himself at the door for admittance he was certainly his hand. On perceiving the Count he rose quickly.
1:06 "'The Count of Monte Cristo, I believe,' said he.
1:10 "'Yes, sir, and I think I have the honour of addressing Count Andrea Cavalcanti?'
1:14 "'Count Andrea Cavalcanti,' repeated the young man,
1:18 accompanying his words with a bow.
1:20 "'You are charged with a letter of introduction addressed to me, are you not?' said the Count.
1:50 "'I did not mention that, because the signature seemed to me so strange the letter signed sinbad the sailor is it not exactly so "'Well, it is one of his descendants, and a great friend of mine. He is a very rich Englishman, eccentric almost to insanity, and his real name is Lord Wilmore.' "'Ah, indeed! Then that explains everything that is extraordinary,' said André.
1:57 "'He is, then, the same Englishman whom I met at—'
2:01 "'Ah, yes, indeed. Well, monsieur, i am at your service if what you say is true replied the count smiling major bartolommeo cavalcanti a descendant of the cavalcanti whose names are inscribed in the golden book at florence
2:31 our family although still rich for my father's income amounts to half a million has experienced many misfortunes and i myself was at the age of five years taken away by the treachery of my tutor so that for fifteen years i have not seen the author of my existence since i have arrived at years of discretion and become my own master i have been constantly seeking him but all in vain me to address myself to you for information respecting him. Really, all you have related to me is exceedingly interesting, said Monte Cristo, observing
3:09 the young man with a gloomy satisfaction, and you have done well to confirm in everything
3:14 to the wishes of my friend Sinbad, for your father is indeed here, and is seeking you.
3:19 The Count, from the moment of first entering the drawing-room, had not once lost sight
3:24 of the expression of the young man's countenance. He had admired the assurance of his look and the firmness
3:29 of his voice. But at these words, so natural in themselves, "'Your father is indeed here
3:35 and is seeking you,' young Andrea started, and exclaimed, "'My father! Is my father here?'
3:41 "'Most undoubtedly,' replied Montecristo. "'Your father, Major major bartolommeo cavalcanti the expression of terror which for the moment had overspread the features of the young man had now disappeared monsieur, that my dear father is here. Yes, sir, and I can even add that I have only just left his
4:06 company. The history which he related to me of his lost son touched me to the quick. Indeed,
4:12 his griefs, hopes, and fears on that subject might furnish material for a most touching and
4:17 pathetic poem. At length he one day received a letter, stating that the abductors of his son
4:22 now offered to restore him, or at least to give notice where
4:25 he might be found, on condition of receiving a large sum of money by way of ransom. Your father
4:31 did not hesitate an instant, and the sum was sent to the frontier of Piedmont with a passport signed
4:36 for Italy. You were in the south of France, I think? Yes, replied Andrea with an embarrassed
4:42 air, I was in the south of France. A carriage was to await you at nice precisely so and it conveyed me from nice to genoa from genoa to turin and from turin to chambry from ch the same route which he himself took, and that is how we have been able to trace your journey to this place.'
5:09 "'But,' said Andrea, "'if my father had met me, I doubt if he would have recognized me.
5:15 I must be somewhat altered since he last saw me.'
5:18 "'Oh, the voice of nature,' said Monte Cristo.
5:21 "'True,' interrupted the young man,
5:23 "'I had not looked upon it in that light.'
5:26 "'Now,' replied Monte Cristo. True, interrupted the young man, I had not looked upon it in that light. Now, replied Monte Cristo, there is only one source of uneasiness left in your father's mind,
5:31 which is this. He is anxious to know how you have been employed during your long absence from him,
5:37 how you have been treated by your persecutors, and if they have conducted themselves towards
5:41 you with all the deference due to your rank. Finally, he is anxious to see if you have been fortunate enough to escape the bad moral influence
5:49 to which you have been exposed, and which is infinitely more to be dreaded than any physical
5:53 suffering. He wishes to discover if the fine abilities with which nature has endowed you

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