1) For the second time (the first with Morrel, now with Albert), the count vows a follow-up encounter after exactly three months, down to the hour. Why do you think he’s so precise about time? How have his experiences shaped his relationship to time?

2) The narrative has been jerking us around (geographically and temporally), as if bending to the will of the count (who wants us to witness Cucumetto’s villainy, the hashish dream, and the graphic execution in Rome, for example). Is the narrator (as separate from the author) subconsciously hostage to the count?

Final sentence of chapter:

“On it were the words: ‘Vicomte Albert de Morcerf’ and under them, in pencil, ‘May 21, at half past ten in the morning, at 27, Rue du Helder.’”

previous chapter discussion

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