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Vendetta in Nîmes

54:29 recording · EN · 2 speakers

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Brief overview

Bertuccio tells Monte Cristo how a refused justice in Nimes became a vendetta, a killing and a rescued child.

  1. Refused justice turned into a sworn vendettaVillefort dismissed the murder as a duel and the law of reprisals, so Bertuccio swore to kill him himself.
  2. The vengeance also rescued a buried newbornThe box Villefort buried held a child Bertuccio revived by the river and left at the asylum in the Rue d'Enfer.
  3. Benedetto repaid the kindness with pure maliceReclaimed by Assunta, the boy stole, lied, refused the smuggler's life and told Bertuccio he had no right to strike him.
Executive Summary AI
  • Bertuccio begins his story in 1815: his elder brother, a lieutenant in a Corsican regiment of the Emperor, was wounded at Waterloo and retired with the army beyond the Loire.
  • Carrying five hundred of his thousand francs to Nimes during the royalist massacres, he learned his brother had been assassinated the previous evening at the innkeeper's door.
  • The king's attorney Villefort told him the death was natural and in conformity with the law of reprisals, so Bertuccio declared the vendetta against him and followed him on foot for three months.
  • At the house at Auteuil, at the end of September, he stabbed Villefort as he buried a box two feet long, then opened it by the river, found a newborn and revived it by inflating its lungs.
  • Years later, hidden behind a partition at Caderousse's inn on the evening of the 3rd of June 1829, he watched Caderousse and La Carcante sell the diamond left by Edmond Dantes for forty-five thousand francs, and then covet the jeweller's gold when the storm drove him back to their door.
Key Quote
“What, cried I, do you, a magistrate, speak thus to me?”
— Bertuccio
Key Quote
“From this moment I declare the vendetta against you, so protect yourself as well as you can, for the next time we meet your last hour has come.”
— Bertuccio
Key Quote
“I am Giovanni Battistio, thy death for my brothers, thy treasure for his widow.”
— Bertuccio

Transcript

0:00 CHAPTER XLIV. THE VENDETTA at what point shall i begin my story your excellency asked patricio will you please return monte cristo since i know nothing at all of it i thought the abbe busoni had told your excellency ago, and I have forgotten them. Then I can speak without fear of tiring Your Excellency.
0:46 Go on, Monsieur Bautissier. You will supply the want of the evening papers.
0:51 The story begins in 1815. Ah, said Monte Cristo, 1815 is not yesterday.
0:59 No, Monsieur, and yet I recollect all things as clearly as if they had happened but then.
1:05 I had a brother,
1:06 an elder brother, who was in the service of the Emperor. He had become a lieutenant in
1:10 a regiment composed entirely of Corsicans. This brother was my only friend. We became
1:16 orphans, I at five, he at eighteen. He brought me up as if I had been his son, and in 1814
1:23 he married. When the Emperor returned from the
1:27 island of Elba, my brother instantly joined the army, was slightly wounded at Waterloo,
1:32 and retired with the army beyond the Loire.
1:36 But that is the history of the Hundred Days, Monsieur Bautissier, said the Count, and if
1:41 I am mistaken, it has been already written.
1:48 Excuse me, Excellency, but these details are necessary, and you promised to be patient. Go on, I will keep my word. One day we received a
1:56 letter. I should tell you that we lived in the little village of Vagliano, at the extremity of
2:02 Cape Corso. This letter was from my brother.
2:08 He told us that the army was disbanded and that he should return via Chaharou, Clermont-Franc,
2:12 Lepuy and Nîmes,
2:14 and if I had any money he prayed me to leave it for him at Nîmes
2:18 with an innkeeper with whom I had dealings.
2:22 In the smuggling line, said Monte Cristo,
2:26 May your Excellency, everyone must live.
2:31 Certainly go on.
2:33 I loved my brother tenderly, as I told your Excellency,
2:37 and I resolved not to send the money,
2:39 but to take it to him myself.
2:42 I possessed a thousand francs.
2:44 I left five hundred with a son to my sister-in-law,
2:47 and with the other five hundred I set off for Nimes. It was easy to do so, and as I had my
2:53 boat and a lady to take in at sea, everything favoured my project. But after we had taken in
3:00 our cargo, the wind became contrary,so that we were four or five days
3:05 "'without being able to enter the Rhone.
3:08 "'At last, however, we succeeded,
3:10 "'and worked up to Arles.
3:13 "'I left the boat between Belgarde and Beaucerre
3:15 "'and took the road to Nimes.
3:18 "'We are getting to the story now.
3:21 "'Yes, Your Excellency, excuse me,
3:23 "'but as you will see,
3:24 "'I only tell you what is absolute necessary just at this time the famous massacres took place in the south of france

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