Cliffhanger

I'm on page 194 and I'm leaving my summary on a cliffhanger this week.  Keep reading!


Chapter 10: The Little Room in the Tuileries
King Louis XVIII and the Duke de Blacas talk about possible desperate acts by Napoleon and his followers.  Dandre, the minister of police, says that Napoleon is suffering from mental weakness in exile and will soon go insane.  Villefort is admitted into the king’s presence and says he has information about Napoleon leaving the Isle of Elba.  The King reassures Villefort that all the shores are being watched and protected.
 
Chapter 11: The Corsican Ogre
Dandre (minister of police) receives a telegram stating that Napoleon left Elba, landed in France and is advancing toward Paris.  The King can not believe it.  His family spent 25 years in exile, recently regained the throne and now are threatened again.  The King asks Villefort if he will see his father.  Villefort says he will not.  The King presents Villefort with his Legion of Honour cross for his help and loyalty.  Villefort goes to his hotel and prepares to leave Paris.  A stranger asks to meet with him in his room.  The stranger is Villefort’s father, Noirtier.
 
Chapter 12: Father and Son
Villefort and his father meet in the hotel room where they speak of Villefort’s wedding, the death of General Quesnel, the landing of Napoleon and the letter from Edmond Dantes.  Noirtier details Napoleon’s intended route to Paris.  Villefort says that the police description of General Quesnel’s murderer matches Noirtier.  Noirtier shaves and changes clothes.  Villefort watches his father leave then heads for Marseilles.
 
Chapter 13: The Hundred Days
Napoleon enters Paris and reclaims the throne, but France remains in civil war.  During Napoleon's Hundred Days, Villefort holds his position as magistrate.  Danglars (the jealous sailor) quits the sea and leaves for Madrid.  Fernand joins Napolean’s army with hopes of winning Mercedes on his return.  Mercedes remains alone, wandering the village in wonder.  Caderousse joins the army.  Five months after Edmond is arrested, his father dies.  Morrel asks Villefort for help in locating Edmond Dantes.  Villefort agrees, but does nothing.  Dantes remains a prisoner during Napoleon’s Hundred Days.  When King Louis XVIII regains the throne, Villefort marries Renee. 

Chapter 14: In the Dungeons
One year after King Louis XVIII is restored to the throne, an inspector visits Dantes in the dungeon.  Dantes wishes to know his crime and to be tried for it.  The inspector promises to look into the case, restoring hope in Dantes.  The inspector also visits the “Mad Abbe” in the cell below Dantes.  L’Abbe Faria is a priest who claims to own an enormous treasure.  They find him drawing circles on the floor.  The inspector looks into Dantes case and finds he is a violent Bonapartists, involved in Napoleon’s return from Elba and is to be carefully watched.  Dantes is known as prisoner #34.
 
Chapter 15: Number 34 and Number 27
Dantes is extremely lonely, the only person he sees is the jailer.  He prays to God, he contemplates death, he stops eating and becomes gravely ill.  One day he hears scratching sounds in the wall.  He uses pieces from a broken jug to scrape plaster from the cell wall.  He uses the handle of a saucepan as a lever to remove a stone.  He hears the Abbe (prisoner #27) below him.  The Abbe works in the tunnel below and soon appears in Dantes cell.
 
Chapter 16: A Learned Italian
The Abbe is a small man with penetrating eyes and a long beard.  He describes the tools he made to dig the 50 feet between the cells.  The Abbe looks out the high window in Dantes’ cell, sees a courtyard and gives up on his plan for escape.  The Abbe tells Dantes of his devotion to learning while in prison.  He invites Dantes to his cell.
 
Chapter 17: In the Abbe’s Cell
The Abbe shows Dantes his hidden tools, linen, papyrus, homemade pens, penknife, oil lamp, and cord ladder.  Dantes tells the Abbe his story.  The Abbe helps him realize those who benefitted from his disappearance, Danglars, Fernand and Villefort.  Dantes is upset but the Abbe says not to think of vengeance.  The Abbe teaches Dantes about math and languages.  Eventually, they make an escape plan that will take a year to execute.  They are days from escaping when the Abbe becomes ill, his arm and leg become paralyzed.
 
Chapter 18: The Treasure
The Abbe tells Dantes about the treasure.  Caeser Spada, a cardinal, and his nephew were poisoned by the Pope in a plot to gain Spada's inheritance.  After the deaths, no wealth was found, only a scrap of paper.  The Abbe explains that he was the secretary for the Comte de Spada, a distant relative of the Cardinal, and spent years looking over the Spada archives.  After the Comte de Spada died, the Abbe discovered that the piece of paper, when exposed to heat, revealed a secret message.  The Abbe shows Dantes the paper revealing the location of the treasure on the island of Monte Cristo.
 
Chapter 19: The Death of the Abbe
Dantes tells the Abbe that being his friend is his greatest treasure.  The Abbe makes Dantes learn the contents of the note by heart.  One night, Dantes awakes to hear his friend calling and rushes to his cell.  He finds his friend dying.  The Abbe comforts Dantes telling him the treasure will be his alone.  Dantes watches his friend die.  Dantes listens in the passage as his friend's body is examined by prison officials.  The Abbe's body is put in a sack in preparation for burial.
 
Chapter 20: The Cemetery of the Chateau D’If
Dantes removes the body from the sack, takes the body to his cell then returns to the Abbe’s cell to sew himself into the sack.  Dantes remains quiet as two grave diggers arrive and take him away on a stretcher.  The grave diggers throw Dantes into the icy water with a thirty-six pound weight tied to his feet.