Dandre, the minister of police, returns to the king’s room and admits that he has just learned that Napoleon returned to France three days ago. The king is necessarily angry at Dandre and criticizes him. He uses Villefort as a comparison, telling Dandre that here is a young man without any services at his command, and yet he was able to tell him that Napoleon was on his way to France before the minister even had a clue this was happening. Villefort does not wanting the police minister to hold a grudge against him, so he tells the king that he was merely lucky to have intercepted the information as he did. King Louis does not accept this. Instead, he gives Villefort a cross, a symbol of high honor.

There is then a discussion about the assassination of General Quesnel, a man loyal to the king. The murder was carried out by a Bonapartist who has not yet been captured. However, as the police minister gives a general description of the assassin, Villefort grows pale. The description matches his father. The king questions Villefort about his father; he wonders if the young man plans to visit him. Villefort denies this.

After the meeting with the king, Villefort drives directly to his hotel. He plans to sleep for the night then leave the next morning for Marseilles. No sooner has he checked in his room that a hotel clerk announces Villefort has a visitor. Villefort asks the clerk to describe the visitor. The clerk provides the same description that the police minister had given the king of the assassin. When Villefort’s father, M. Noirtier, makes his presence known, Villefort lies and tells his father he is glad to see him. He even tells his father that he has come to Paris to see him and to possibly save his life. He then relates the story about the assassin and how the police might be looking for him. Noirtier denies that General Quesnel was murdered—he is merely missing. Nevertheless, after his son gives the description of the assassin, Noirtier changes his appearance. He shaves, puts on some of his son’s clothing, and leaves his own clothing behind as he rushes from the room. He tells his son to discretely get rid of the hat and cloak he has discarded. Villefort is terrified and runs to the window to watch his father. Then he buries his father’s clothes in the bottom of his trunk and quickly departs Paris for Marseilles.

Napoleon recaptures the throne, and King Louis XVIII flees. For one hundred days, Napoleon once again rules France. With Napoleon in power, Morrel, the ship owner, approaches Villefort and requests Dantes’s release. Dantes was, Morrel reminds Villefort, working in Napoleon’s name. He should now be declared innocent. Villefort promises to write a letter and secure Dantes’s freedom, but secretly he knows he cannot do so. Dantes’s release would jeopardize his own ambition. Morrel returns twice more to implore Villefort to make good his promise, but Villefort still has no intention of doing so.

Danglars, fearing Dantes might be released from prison, leaves for Spain. Fernand joins Napoleon’s army. Dantes’s father dies. At the end of one hundred days, Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo and is exiled from the country once more. Villefort, whose marriage had been delayed, soon afterward weds his betrothed. Dantes remains in prison.

Dantes has been in jail for a year. An inspector arrives with the governor to interview the prisoners. It is merely a formality, but the inspector asks several prisoners what they want. Most answer they want better food and a release. The inspector says every prisoner wants the same thing. When he approaches Dantes, however, he is touched by the young man’s seeming innocence. Dantes implores the inspector to look into his records and grant him a trial. If he is proven guilty, he would much rather be shot than remain in jail.

Before leaving, the inspector also visits a man called Abbey Faria, who claims he will give the inspector a very large sum of money if only he will release him. The inspector laughs at the man and says he must be mad. When the inspector returns to Marseilles, he checks Dantes’s records. He finds a note that declares the young man a dangerous conspirator and decides there is nothing he can do for him.

Meanwhile, Dantes counts the days, waiting for a message from the inspector telling him he is free. After a year has passed, Dantes gives up hope. A new governor has been appointed to the prison. This man does not bother to learn the names of the prisoners. From then on, Dantes is known merely by the number of his cell: thirty-four.

Four years have gone by since Dantes was incarcerated. He is depressed and decides he would rather die. He begins to starve himself by tossing each meal he receives out the window. When he becomes so weak he knows he is almost dead, he hears a strange tapping noise that continues for many hours each day. He concludes that the sounds are coming from a fellow prisoner who is digging a tunnel to escape. Dantes starts digging too. One day their tunnels reach one another. The prisoner from cell 27 climbs up, and they meet face to face.