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 conten