reality which was cast over the most extravagant situations
     made the work worthy of the popularity it enjoyed in almost
     every country in the world.  The island from which it takes its
     name is a barren rock rising 2,000 feet out of the sea a few
     miles south of Elba.  Dumas attempted to emulate Scott, and
     built a chateau near St. Germain, which he called Monte
     Cristo, costing over $125,000.  It was afterwards sold for a
     tenth of that sum to pay his debts.

I.—­The Conspiracy of Envy

On February 28, 1815, the three-masted Pharaon arrived at Marseilles from Smyrna, commanded by the first mate, young Edmond Dantes, the captain having died on the voyage.  He had left a package for the Marechal Bertrand on the Isle of Elba, which Dantes had duly delivered, conversing with the exiled Emperor Napoleon himself.

The shipowner, M. Morrel, confirmed young Dantes in the command, and, overjoyed, he hastened to his father, and then to the village of the Catalans, near Marseilles, where the dark-eyed Mercedes, his betrothed, impatiently awaited him.

But his good fortune excited envy.  Danglars, the supercargo of the Pharaon, wanted the command for himself, and Fernand, the Catalan cousin of Mercedes, hated Dantes because he had won her heart.  Fernand’s jealousy so took possession of him that he fell in willingly with a scheme which the envious Danglars proposed.  Making use of Dantes’ compromising visit to Elba, they addressed an anonymous denunciation to the procureur du roi, which, in this period of Bonapartist plots, was indeed a formidable matter.  Caderousse, a boon companion, was at first taken into their confidence, but as he came to think it a dangerous trick to play the young captain, he refused to take part in it.

On the morrow the wedding-feast took place, and at two o’clock Dantes, radiant with joy and happiness, prepared to accompany his bride to the hotel de ville for the civil ceremony.  But at that moment the measured tread of soldiery was heard on the stairs, and a magistrate presented himself, bearing an order for the arrest of Edmond Dantes.  Resistance or remonstrance was useless, and Dantes suffered himself to be taken to Marseilles, where he was examined by the deputy procureur du roi, M. de Villefort.  To him, on demand, he recounted the story of his visit to Elba.

“Ah!” said Villefort, “if you have been culpable it was imprudence.  Give up this letter you have brought from Elba, and go and rejoin your friends.”

“You have it already,” cried Dantes.

Villefort glanced at it, and sank into his seat, stupefied.  It was addressed to M. Noirtier, a staunch Bonapartist.

“Oh, if he knew the contents of this,” murmured he, “and that Noirtier is father of Villefort, I am lost!” He approached the fire, and cast the fatal letter in.

“Sir,” said he, “I shall detail you till this evening in the Palais de Justice.  Should anyone else interrogate you do not breathe a word of this letter.”