After a bit of tarrying, it's easy to forget how fast Dumas can get moving.

Discussion starters:

1.) This chapter brought us two reunions we've been waiting for, short lived as it was. What do you think of Mercédès' reaction to the Count? Do you think she is sure of his identity, or does his persona and reputation leave her room to doubt?

2.) Did you think anything was off about Fernand? He was introduced to us as a stupid character, but it seems he has his own reputation for military strategy and creating and giving speeches on, apparently, "theorems." Moreover, is he faking a French background? Between these seeming incongruities, his old sin, and a wife who has herself painted waiting for another man, what do you think has aged him the most?

3.) After seeing the whole family, do you feel like the Count taking revenge on Fernand will be satisfying?

4.) Other points of discussion? For my part, I just feel bad for Albert at this point. Albert seems like he genuinely admires the Count. He seems to be a good son to Mercédès, too, and I liked how she questioned him with a mother's concern. It's kind of sick how the Count's first step in revenge is playing on Albert's naivety so relentlessly, as if beating up his old, naive self by proxy.

Final Line:

“Most decidedly,” said he, “men are not equal, and I must beg my father to develop this theorem in the Chamber of Peers.”

Previous Discussion

The next discussion will be up this Saturday.