1. Maximilien swears that he’ll be Valentine’s “avenger,” but the count seems to be assuming that Maximilien’s trauma about Valentine’s murder will be completely wiped away once he reunites the young lovers; does this seeming blind spot reflect an inability on the count’s part to experience emotion normally?

2. Why do you think Dumas chooses to keep us from the conversation in which Noirtier reveals to de Villefort who the poisoner is?

Final sentence of chapter:

“He made this solemn promise and, doubtless to avoid being interrupted in his devotions and so that Noirtier would not be disturbed in his grief, as soon as M. d’ Avrigny had left the room, he went to draw not only the bolts on the door through which the doctor had just left but also those on the door leading to the apartments of Madame de Villefort.”

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