Story so far
Brought to the assizes with 'Spartan unconcern,' Andrea Cavalcanti—the convict Benedetto—turns his own trial into a weapon. Refusing the ordinary order of questions, he coolly names himself 'first a forger, then a thief, and lately an assassin,' then delivers his bombshell: he does not know his own name, but his father is 'the king's attorney... named Villefort.' Before the reeling court he recounts his birth at Auteuil on the night of 27 September 1817, in a room hung with red damask, and how his father, telling his mother he was dead, wrapped him in a napkin marked 'H' and 'N' and buried him alive in the garden—only for the man who stabbed Villefort that night to dig him up and carry him to the foundling asylum as 'No. 37.' Reared in Corsica, turned to crime, he offers as proof the shattered procureur himself. His revelation forces from Villefort a public confession of guilt and adjourns the trial—Benedetto, 'calm and more interesting than ever,' led out having ruined the very man who meant to condemn him.
Appearance
A composed young man on the edge of twenty-one, elegant and self-possessed, one hand on his hat, the other in his white waistcoat, his eye calm and brilliant.
Role
The prisoner who wrecks his own trial by naming Villefort as the father who buried him alive.
Relationships
Villefort — The procureur he denounces in open court as the father who buried him alive, forcing his public confession.
Madame Danglars — His unnamed mother, present veiled in the crowd, who faints and is recognized as his birth is told.
Bertuccio — The man who stabbed Villefort, dug him from the grave, and carried him to the foundling asylum.
Sources — 10 recorded facts, by chapter
Chapter 56
- A sharp, unscrupulous young adventurer with a galley-convict's past, launched into Parisian society by the Count under a false name and fortune.
Chapter 62
- The false 'Count Andrea Cavalcanti' is presented at Auteuil in new clothes—and secretly recognized by Bertuccio as the monster Benedetto.
Chapter 64
- Leaving Auteuil, Andrea is accosted by his old galley-mate Caderousse, who blackmails him—exposing him as the escaped convict Benedetto.
Chapter 76
- Launched in Paris as a rich young 'count,' Andrea courts Eugénie Danglars with sighs and diamonds while the banker favors his suit over Albert's.
Chapter 81
- Andrea formally proposes for Eugénie and dazzles Danglars with fictitious millions, then placates the extorting Caderousse—sketching him the count's house.
Chapter 82
- Standing guard for Caderousse's burglary, Andrea waits in the street and, as his accomplice climbs down the wall, stabs him three times and flees for dead.
Chapter 96
- On his triumphant betrothal night, Andrea is unmasked at the contract-signing as Caderousse's murderer and an escaped galley-slave, and slips away as police arrive.
Chapter 98
- Fleeing with stolen jewels, Andrea talks his way to Compiègne but, cornered by gendarmes, falls down a chimney into Eugénie's very room and is taken to the Conciergerie.
Chapter 107
- Jailed in La Force's 'Lions' Den,' the still-preening Benedetto counts on his hidden protector to save him—and thrills when Bertuccio comes, promising to name his father.
Chapter 110
- On trial for murder, Benedetto calmly detonates his defense—naming the procureur Villefort as the father who buried him alive, and offering the stricken magistrate himself as proof.