Contents
Chapter 10.
Overview
In the king’s private closet, Louis XVIII dismisses the Duc de Blacas’s southern unrest warnings and trusts Minister Dandré’s reassuring reports about Napoleon. Blacas secures an audience for Villefort, whom the king deems ruthlessly ambitious despite his Bonapartist father. Villefort urgently warns of Napoleon’s imminent move from Elba. As the king remains skeptical, Dandré returns shaken, foreshadowing a grave confirmation.
Summary
In the Tuileries, Louis XVIII annotates Horace while teasing the cautious Duc de Blacas, who warns of unrest in the south and a Bonapartist threat. Minister of Police M. Dandré assures the king that Napoleon is idle, unwell, perhaps deranged, and even conciliatory, reinforcing the monarch’s complacency.
Blacas insists on presenting a trusted messenger. When the king learns the envoy is Deputy Crown Prosecutor Gérard de Villefort—son of the Bonapartist Noirtier—he notes Villefort’s ambition and readiness to sacrifice anything, even family, for advancement, and agrees to receive him.
Despite courtly objections to his travel-worn attire, Villefort is admitted. He reports an actual conspiracy: Napoleon is arming three ships and has likely left Elba to attempt a landing in Italy or France. Villefort explains he arrested a turbulent Marseilles sailor who had secretly visited Elba and carried an oral message to prepare minds for a return, prompting Villefort to abandon his own betrothal celebrations to warn the king.
Louis XVIII counters that surveillance and public sentiment will foil any invasion, yet Villefort’s urgency unsettles him. At that moment, Dandré reappears pale and trembling, abruptly undermining his earlier confidence and suggesting that Villefort’s alarming intelligence is being confirmed.
Who Appears
- undefinedKing of France; dismisses alarms, jokes over Horace, then wavers as reports darken.
- Gérard de VillefortAmbitious magistrate; warns the king that Napoleon is leaving Elba to attempt a landing.
- undefinedRoyalist courtier; presses the king to hear Villefort and warns of southern unrest.
- undefinedMinister of Police; initially minimizes the threat, later returns pale, implying bad news.
- undefinedMaster of ceremonies; objects to Villefort’s attire before yielding to the king’s order.