La Carconte cuts in sharply, mocking her husband’s “politeness” and warning him of the danger in revealing too much. Her words drip with suspicion—promises of safety, she says, always dissolve into misery and persecution for the poor and helpless. The abbé counters with calm assurance, but her muttering presence lingers like a shadow on the room. When she sinks back into weakness, the conversation resumes, but the tone has shifted.

The abbé presses on, his voice steadied only by repeated draughts of water. Was old Dantès truly left to starve with no one to help him? Caderousse, shifting uneasily, admits there were some who tried—Mercédès, ever loyal, and Monsieur Morrel, generous and steadfast. Yet Edmond’s father despised Fernand, the man once counted among his “faithful friends.” With a bitter smile, Caderousse makes clear: even in kindness, betrayal haunted the house of Dantès.

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The Countdown of Monte Cristo is a daily podcast reading one page at a time from Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel — every day, for four years.