Story so far
Haydée, who has sheltered Valentine de Villefort on the Island of Monte Cristo and taught her to 'wait patiently' while speaking of the Count of Monte Cristo (Edmond Dantès), faces the moment she has dreaded: the count offers to set her free, restore 'the riches and name of your father' Ali Tepelini, and release her from his destiny. Pale and stricken, she cries 'Then you leave me, my lord?'—and when he bids her forget his name and be happy, she answers that to leave him is to die. Pressed, she pours out her love: 'I love you as one loves a father, brother, husband... you are the best, the noblest of created beings!' The count's long-frozen heart at last dilates; he opens his arms, and she springs into them.
Through her love he 'again takes hold on life,' finding in her the reward and pardon he sought. At dawn, aboard a great white sail vanishing on the horizon, Haydée departs with Edmond—no longer slave or ward, but the beloved with whom he sails toward a future of hope.
Appearance
A radiant Greek beauty of nineteen or twenty with blue-black hair and dark eyes, in rich Eastern silks, her lovely face passing from anguish to overwhelming joy.
Role
The count's ward whose confessed love wins his heart, sailing away with him into a new life.
Relationships
Edmond Dantès — Her master, whose offer of freedom she refuses for love, winning his heart and sailing away as his beloved.
Valentine de Villefort — Her cherished 'sister' on the island, whom she comforted through the long wait for Maximilian.
Ali Tepelini — Her father, whose restored name and riches she gives up to remain with the count she loves.
Sources — 8 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 45
- The Count's beautiful young Greek companion, brought from Constantinople, who arrives to join his secret Paris household.
Chapter 49
- The Count's adoring Greek ward, a princess of Epirus in all but name, who lives only for him and guards the secret of her birth.
Chapter 53
- At the opera Haydée recognizes Morcerf as the traitor who sold her father, Ali Pasha of Yanina, to the Turks.
Chapter 77
- Presented to Albert, Haydée recounts the fall of Yanina—her father Ali Pasha betrayed to the Turks, Selim slain, her mother dead, herself sold into slavery.
Chapter 86
- Acting alone and unknown to the Count, Haydée appears before the Peers with documents and denounces Morcerf as Fernand Mondego, betrayer and seller of her family.
Chapter 90
- Waiting sleepless at his door, Haydée wakes to find the Count writing his will making her his heiress—and tears it up, betraying at last that she loves him as more than a father.
Chapter 92
- Radiant with relief at the Count's safe return, Haydée fears the arrival of Morcerf—but is reassured, and receives from her master a kiss that stirs two hearts.
Chapter 117
- Offered her freedom and her father's name, Haydée instead confesses she would die without the Count—and, loved in return at last, sails away with him into a new life.