The Count’s plans for vengeance are moving more swiftly. Now that the Count has gotten to know the families of Fernand, Danglars, and Villefort, he can begin the long-term chess-match that will result in the revelation of their crimes. The house in Auteuil is an important setting for these revelations, since the Count now owns it, and Villefort and his mistress, as-yet unnamed, committed their crimes there.     Albert also reports that Franz, who is to marry Valentine de Villefort, is bored in Italy and will soon be returning to Paris. The Count’s servant Baptistin arrives in the room to announce that a man named Cavalcanti, the descendent of an old and wealthy Italian family and a friend of the Count’s from Italy, will soon be visiting Paris. Albert leaves, but not before asking the Count if he will dine with him and his mother. The Count does not agree, saying that he is busy with other matters, and Albert asks himself why the Count is so hesitant to make his mother’s acquaintance more thoroughly.