Leaving Monte Cristo, Maximilien walks to the Villefort residence. He meets Valentine and is immediately concerned about her health. She seems disoriented. Valentine tells him that she is "slightly indisposed," but that she is gaining strength; she has been taking slow, but increasing doses of her grandfather's medicine (brucine). She says that she'll be fine; only minutes ago, she drank a glass of sugared water.
Madame Danglars and Eugénie arrive to announce Eugénie's engagement to "Prince" Cavalcanti, a title that somehow "sounds better" to Madame Danglars than does "Count." Eugénie protests her engagement; she does not look forward to marriage and becoming "a wife or a slave of a man." She wants to be free, and she needs to be free, she says. Valentine leaves the room and collapses on the landing, where Maximilien finds her and carries her to old Noirtier's room. There, Valentine suffers another attack, and this time she becomes so cold and so lifeless that Doctor d'Avrigny is called.
Maximilien goes immediately to Monte Cristo. He says that he fears that Valentine has been murdered. Monte Cristo instructs Maximilien to "be strong" and not to "lose hope."
Back at the Villefort residence, Doctor d'Avrigny announces guardedly that Valentine is still alive, and Villefort suggests that Valentine be put in her own bed. Then he exits. Doctor d'Avrigny stays behind with Noirtier and questions the old gentleman about Barrois' (Noirtier's servant's) death. Noirtier tells the doctor, with signs, that Valentine was poisoned by the same person who killed Barrois, and moreover, that Barrois was poisoned by accident; he drank a glass of liquid that was meant for Noirtier. The doctor then asks Noirtier if it was he who began giving Valentine increasingly potent doses of brucine—to make her immune if someone tried to poison her. Noirtier signals Yes, it was indeed he. The doctor leaves then and goes to Valentine's room, where he discovers an Italian priest—Abbé Busoni (Monte Cristo, in disguise).
Three days later, the Danglars' mansion is all aglitter with guests adorned with diamonds, rubies, and other precious stones. Eugénie Danglars is announcing her engagement to young Cavalcanti to an enormous crowd of her father's friends. At exactly nine o'clock, Monte Cristo arrives and soon after, a notary calls for the signing of the wedding contract.
Baron Danglars signs, then hands the pen to the representative of Major Cavalcanti (the Major himself has disappeared). Madame Danglars sighs; she wishes that Monsieur Villefort were here, whereupon Monte Cristo steps up and says that, unfortunately, he is the cause of Villefort's absence. Andrea Cavalcanti (Benedetto) immediately pricks up his ears. Monte Cristo continues, and he says that the vest on the murdered Caderousse has been examined and that a piece of paper was found in one of the pockets. It was a letter addressed to Baron Danglars. Monte Cristo speculates that the letter might have concerned a plot against Danglars, so he sent the vest and the letter to the public prosecutor, Villefort.
The notary then announces that the signing of the contract will once again resume; just then, an officer and two gendarmes enter the salon and ask for Andrea Cavalcanti, "an escaped convict accused of murdering another escaped convict by the name of Caderousse." A search begins for young Cavalcanti, but he seems to have disappeared.
Upstairs, Eugénie makes plans to flee with her friend Louise d'Armilly. She says that she loathes men and intends to leave Paris immediately! Then she cuts off her long black hair and dons a man's suit of clothes. Louise is speechless at Eugénie's daring; they quickly hire a cab and escape into the night. Monsieur Danglars has lost his daughter.
"Andrea Cavalcanti" is a clever young man. Before escaping, he detours through the room where the "wedding jewels" are on display. He seizes the most valuable ones, then he cajoles a cab driver to whisk him as fast as possible out of the city (ostensibly to try and catch a friend in another carriage); then, after he alights, he smudges dust on one side of his overcoat and asks to rent a horse (his own horse threw him in the darkness, he says). All of his plans work, and by 4 A.M., he has settled himself in a rented room and is ready for a good sleep, after having consumed a cold chicken and some excellent wine. He is absolutely certain that no one will capture him, for he plans to depart early, travel through a forest, and then cross the French border.
Unfortunately, Andrea sleeps later than he expected to—and when he peers out the window, he sees three gendarmes arriving at the inn. Hastily, he writes a note to the innkeeper, making it sound as though he had to leave in shame because he had no money. He leaves a handsome tie pin behind as payment for board and room, then he climbs up the chimney and onto the roof. He is afraid, however, that while the gendarmes are searching the rooms in the inn, they might look out of an upper window and spy him on the roof. Thus, he slips down a chimney where there is no smoke. Imagine his surprise, when he drops down the chimney and onto the hearth of a bedroom—and two young ladies rise up out of their bed and scream for help. One of them is Eugénie Danglars—the woman he was supposed to marry—and the other is her friend Louise! Eugénie tells Andrea to climb back up the fireplace, but one of the gendarmes has already seen Andrea through the keyhole and breaks open the door and arrests him. Andrea is taken back to Paris and imprisoned.
