Contents
Chapter 46.
Overview
Monte Cristo pointedly snubs and then overawes Baron Danglars, turning the banker’s skepticism about an “unlimited credit” into submissive compliance by producing overwhelming financial guarantees. Simultaneously, he acquires Danglars’s prized horses, orders immediate funds, and quietly prepares strategic assets—a Norman coastal estate and travel relays—foreshadowing swift, far-reaching moves.
Summary
Baron Danglars arrives at Monte Cristo’s house but is refused an audience, prompting Monte Cristo to study him from afar and judge him harshly. Irritated by seeing Danglars’s fine team, Monte Cristo orders Bertuccio to buy the horses at any price and sets exacting expectations for his staff, warning Baptistin against indiscretion while affirming Ali’s absolute loyalty.
By five o’clock, Bertuccio has secured the horses. Monte Cristo also instructs Bertuccio to purchase a secluded Norman seaside estate with a harbor for his corvette and to arrange relays of horses along major routes, signaling wider, rapid plans in motion.
Monte Cristo then visits Danglars. Before his railroad committee colleagues, Danglars boasts skeptically about the Roman bankers’ “unlimited credit” granted to the count. In private, he questions the term; Monte Cristo counters by producing treasury orders and additional unlimited credits on Rothschild and Laffitte, shattering Danglars’s doubts.
Overwhelmed, Danglars concedes, agreeing to a prospective annual expenditure of six million francs and to deliver 500,000 francs the next morning, half in gold and half in notes. Monte Cristo hints at ancient, newly freed wealth. Danglars, eager to flatter such a client, offers to introduce Monte Cristo to the baroness, who is at home with Lucien Debray; Monte Cristo accepts, and they proceed to meet her.
Who Appears
- undefinedControls staff with precision, buys Danglars’s horses, secures 500,000 francs, and arranges a Norman estate and travel relays.
- Baron DanglarsSkeptically probes the count’s ‘unlimited credit’ but is overwhelmed by proof and agrees to large advances and future sums.
- BertuccioEfficiently purchases Danglars’s horses and receives orders to buy a Normandy seaside estate and set up horse relays.
- AliTrusted attendant; reassured by the count, exemplifies absolute loyalty, accompanies the carriage to Danglars’s residence.
- undefinedValet warned against gossip and negligence; awed by the count’s authority and the example set with Ali.