The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram., 1919-08-28
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRHSTO
BY ALEXANDRA DUMAS, SR.
Condensation by Alfred 8. Clark

On February %. 1915, Edmond
Dantes sailed into Marseilles. He was
but 10 years of age and ardently in
love. His conscience was clear; he
had violated no law. Yet the next night
he was in cell in the gloomy Chateau
!! DIFF, fortress on bare rock off Mar
seilles. And fourteen years were TO
pass before he strode again in the sun
light.
Three men had wrought his ruin.
Danglars envied Edmonds rapid pro-
! motion. Fernand was crazed with
love for Mercedes. Edmond's beloved.
Danglars wrote and Fernand despatch
ed letter warning the authoritiCs to
| intercept the missive Edmond was
! bearing to Paris. Chance that this
! warming, addressed to Villeforts faith
er. fell into the hands of the uu-
scrupulous Villefort himself.
Of this dark intrigue Edmond knew
nothing. At his captains dying request
he had called at Elba where he had
seen the captive Napoleon and been in
trusted with a sealed letter. Villefort,
turncoat devoted to the aristocracy
had changed his name to make men
forget that his father was a Bona
partist He destroyed the discriminating
| letter before Edmond's eyes and prom.
ised that the lad should be free Even
as he spoke the words, he knew that
in the disappearance Of this youth lay
his own security
| Thus it happened that while the
Corsican came out Of Elba by stealth
and rode to Paris amid tumultuous
cheers, Edmond lay in dungeon. The
thunder of the guns at Waterloo did
not penetrate the walls of the
Chateau diff. Napoleon was borne
away to St. Helena the Hundred Days
were over. And Dantes knew naught
of these things. He ate out his heart
in thoughts of Mercedes and wondered
what mad freak of fortune had thrust
him away from the world of men.
Days dragged into years. He lost
track of time. Confined in black and
Shiny dungeon, he saw only his jailer.
There were moments when he hoped
hours when he despaired, weeks when
he raved in impotent anger. Four years
rolled past. He was starving himself
to death. Then he heard a raspipg
scratching noise. The spark of human
hope burned anew. He swallowed his
broth; he must win back his strength
Somewhere near him was a human
toward freedom.
Four days later a section of flooring
fell in and out of a dark tunnel sprans
an old man. He was Able Faria, a
prisoner for eight years. His tunnel
dug with arduous toll, had failed tc
reach the sunlight but it led to fellow
ship. unsupported by their jailers, the
, two men met daily and studied I'M
wearily. Out of his ripe wisdom anC
his prodigiUIs memory, the Abbe
taught Edmond mathematics, history
and languages.
Less guileless than Edmond he was
able to prove, from the youths owr
story, than Danglars, Fernand an(
Nillefort were responsible for Ii:
living death. So Edmond had new
incentive for freedom. He sought re
venge. The Able revealed too tn,
secret of the great treasure Of golt
and jewels that lay in a cave on Monte
. Cristo, an uninhabited island off Italy
The years rolled on. Another at
| tempt to escape was frustrated by tn
paralysis of the Abbe's right side. Ed
mond refused to leave him. He was
! very different man from the carefl C.
sailor who had been so suddenly jerke;
from the gayety of a marriage fcas
to the gloom of dungeon. He was
+. man of the world-educated cynical
One night he heard cry of anguish,
Hurriedly he rolled aside the g1ea
stone that concealed the tunnel open
ing, crawled swiftly to his neighbo1'
cell. He found him writhing in agony
At dawn he was dead.
That night Edmond carried tn
corpse to his own cell and laid 1t o,
his own bed, face to the wall, so tia
the jailer would think it Edmop
asleep. Secreting a crude knife wit
which to effect an escape, he the
sewed himself into the coarse sack il
which the jailers had put the bod.
L Two men later bore out the suppose
y corpse, weighted the legs with a grea
l. iron ball, and swung the sack power
fully. Edmond suddenly realized tina
/ he was falling from a great height. H
T had been flung from the chateau roc
|, into the sea.
He screamed aloud as he struck tn
: water and then the weight dragse
l. him into the ice-cold depths. II
S ripped open the sack, convulsively Gu
the rope that was knotted to the sho
and rose to the surface. He had nc
= forgotten how to swim. He struck o.
l. in the blackness for an islet. Just a
=. he was losing hope, his knee struc
rock. He staggered to his feet an
II above him rose a gloomy mass, hi
{ goal.
Il At daybreak he flung himself int
the sea and pulled aboard an outwar,
bound bark. Each moment Marseille
= receded further into the distance. H
y learned from his shipmates that it Wa
- February 2S, 1929. He had been sh,
ID" away from the world for IA years. II
l. wondered what had become of Me
q. cedes. Then he thought Of Danglar
!, Fernand and Villefort. A baleful ligi
flickered in his hard eyes. m
Edmond had fallen in with band