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The Count of Monte Cristo

By ALEXANDRE DUMAS, SR.

Condensation by ALFRED S. CLARK ON February 28, 1815, Edmond Dantes sailed into Marseilles. He was but nineteen years of age and ardently in love. His conscience was clear; he had violated no law. Yet the next night he was in a cell in the gloomy Chateau d'If, a fortress on a bare rock off Marseilles. And fourteen years were to pass before he strode again in the sunlight.

Three men had wrought his ruin. Danglars envied Edmond's rapid promotion. Fernand was crazed with love for Mercedes, Edmond's beloved. Danglars wrote and Fernand despatched a letter warning the authorities to intercept the missive Edmond was bearing to Paris. Chance decreed that this warning, addressed to Villefort's father, fell into the hands of the unscrupulous Villefort himself.