1. You kind of have to love Noirtier for how well he tried to protect Valentine, but since it seems obvious that he knows about the poison I'm forced to wonder why he didn't just tell her? How do you think she would have received such a warning? I can only assume Dumas thinks she wouldn't have been able to accept it. Maybe she's so sweet and naive Nortier fears she'll think he's crazy.

2. So Eugénie is now officially engaged to Andrea, who I should point out is actually her half brother. I don't think we've discussed this before, but since the count did his puppet master thing to make their engagement a reality, do you think it's another case of him cruelly hurting someone innocent, in this case, Eugénie, in the pursuit of his revenge against her father?

3. I'm curious about how the apology Albert made before the would-be duel is recounted around Paris. He said he wanted the witnesses to tell everyone what he said, but here it's merely said that he apologized to him on the field. I suspect it's because Dumas doesn't want to repeat the same information to the readers, we know everything he said, so when we see it recounted it's all reduced to just the one line. But if Danglars heard that Albert said the count had every right to take his revenge for something the fisherman Fernand did to him, it might give him pause. And if Baroness Danglars heard the full version, I would think she would relay it to Villefort, who knows the count is really his enemy, and that he's supposed to have never set foot in France before.

4. Gee, Mme de Villefort sure seems concerned about Valentine.

Final line:

'Just as I said!' Mme de Villefort exclaimed. 'Poor child!'

Link to the last discussion.

The next discussion will be up on Wednesday.