Chapter 28.

An apparent English clerk from Thomson & French visits the mayor of Marseilles to inquire about Morrel & Son’s solvency. The mayor, a minor creditor, affirms Morrel’s honor but refers the visitor to M. de Boville, inspector of prisons, who holds a larger exposure.

At De Boville’s office, the Englishman offers to buy De Boville’s 200,000-franc claim on Morrel at face value, requesting in return access to prison registers. Desperate to secure his daughter’s dowry, De Boville agrees. In conversation, he recounts Morrel’s precarious situation and the imminent failure if the Pharaon does not arrive.

The Englishman asks specifically for records on Abbé Faria. De Boville recalls Faria’s “madness” about a treasure and narrates his death. He further describes a tunnel between Faria and another prisoner, Edmond Dantès, and explains how Dantès attempted escape by replacing Faria’s corpse in the burial sack, only to be thrown into the sea with a cannonball—presumed drowned.

Granted time with the registers, the Englishman reviews Faria’s entry, then examines Dantès’s file, finding the accusation, examination, Morrel’s petition, and Villefort’s marginal notes branding Dantès an inveterate Bonapartist. He recognizes Villefort’s handwriting linking the damaging note to the earlier certificate and understands how the petition became a weapon against Dantès after the Restoration.

While De Boville reads his newspaper, the Englishman quietly pockets the original anonymous denunciation against Dantès. He then fulfills his bargain: De Boville drafts the assignment of debt, and the Englishman counts out the cash, completing the exchange.