THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (CHAPS 103-104) MAXIMILIAN and DANGLERS SIGNATURE

CHAPTER 103  MAXIMILIAN

Analysis
Maximilien flies into a hysterical rage on hearing the news that his intended, Valentine, is dead. He does this in the presence of Villefort, the doctor, and Noirtier. When Villefort and the doctor ask who Morrel is, and why he has been admitted to the house in which the murder has taken place, Morrel asks Noirtier to confirm that he, Morrel, was engaged to Valentine before her death, and that he loved her dearly.
Young Morrel is finally able to reveal to Villefort that he has been in love with Valentine all along, and that the two were to be married. Although Young Morrel believes that Valentine has already died, this admission of their love feels like a victory for him, a confirmation that their love, while it lasted, was real.

CHAPTER 104  DANGLER'S SIGNATURE

The funeral for Valentine commences, and the narrator shifts his attention to a commercial interaction between the Baron Danglars and the Count, who spots him outside his home. The Count says he would like to take up the balance of his initially-requested credit with the Baron, for a sum of 5 million francs, assuming that the Baron has it on hand. The Baron pretends that this is no issue, that he will be able to cash out the receipts the Count holds; but when the Count heads to the Bank of France with these receipts, the Baron is met by Boville, the former inspector of prisons, who is collecting money for a charity hospice.
The Count wishes to allow himself the joy of collecting a final amount of money from Danglars that Danglars himself is unable to pay out. This is a mirror and an opposite to the scene far earlier in the text, when the Count, as Lord Wilmore, offers Old Morrel sufficient money to remain open and in business. The Count seems to delight just as much, if not more, in viewing the financial ruin of one family as the financial security of another.
 
 
It turns out that this hospice also has 5 million francs drawn on the Baron. This rather complex set of banking conversations reduces to the simple fact that the Baron does not have enough money to cover his debts. He is, in fact, bankrupt. The Count of course knows this, but Boville does not yet, and so the Baron tries to maintain his composure with him during their conversation. He tells Boville, headed to the funeral, that he himself will not be going, that he must instead go back to the office. At home, Danglars takes his remaining funds (about 50,000 francs) and his passport and prepares to leave the country as his daughter Eugenie has just done, presumably to avoid financial ruin.
Fernand has committed suicide rather than accept public humiliation for the treachery he engaged in overseas. Caderousse has died, not being given the option to atone for his past crimes, after the Count determined that he was fundamentally beyond redemption. But Danglars tries to take his chances abroad, figuring that if he escapes Paris, he at least has a chance of speculating whatever money he retains in another market, with the hope of regaining some of what he’s lost.