Madame Danglars returns home with her lover, Debray, accompanying her. She readies herself for bed while Debray sits in her bedroom, wanting to know why she was so upset at the count’s country home. Madame Danglars attempts to push aside Debray’s concerns, but he does not accept this. He wants to get to the root of the problem but is interrupted when Danglars enters the room. Danglars insists that Debray leave his house so he can talk to his wife.

Danglars is obviously upset, but his anger is not directed at his wife’s affair with Debray but rather at the recent loss of a large sum of money. Danglars insists that his wife and her lover compensate him for at least part of the money he has lost due to the erroneous telegraph message. Danglars declares that both Madame Danglars and Debray have shared in his positive speculations and now should also share in the recent negative one. Danglars is well aware that Debray often provides Madame Danglars with inside tips on how stocks are going to rise or fall, which has, in the past, made Danglars a lot of money. Therefore, he suspects that his wife and Debray might have also been involved in the recent disaster that caused him to lose 700,000 francs. He accuses her and Debray of scheming to destroy him. In the midst of his anger, Danglars also reveals that he has known not only of her affair with Debray but also all her previous lovers, including Villefort, with whom she bore a child.

The next day, Danglars returns to the count and confides that he has recently lost a lot of money. In addition to losing money on the faulty telegraph, several of his clients have defaulted on their loans. Danglars also pursues his interest in his daughter’s marriage. He is impressed with Andrea, and he asks the count to tell him more about the young man’s background. He asks the count to tell of Andrea’s fortune; it amounts to far more money than Albert (Mercedes’s son whom Danglars had previously favored for his daughter) will inherit. Danglars confides in the count, telling him that his feelings have turned from the young man not only because of the lack of money to which Albert is entitled but also that Albert does not have a line of nobility in his family. Danglars says that Albert’s father was once a poor man who mysteriously came into money. If Danglars can discover something scandalous about Fernand, he will be able to rescind on his promise of his daughter’s hand to Albert.

The count pretends not to be aware of Fernand’s background and suggests that Danglars investigate rumors the count has heard that Fernand might have made his fortune in Greece. The count recalls his slave Haydee’s contention that Danglars sold her father into slavery, and he provides Danglars with some names and tells him to write letters to any of his contacts in Greece to gain details concerning the source of Danglars’s wealth.

In the next chapter, Madame Danglars rushes out of her house early in the morning to meet with Villefort. When she arrives at his office, Villefort cautiously looks around his offices, pulls the curtains, and secures the door before telling Madame Danglars information he has never shared with her before. He confesses that after he was stabbed, he saw the man (Bertuccio) dig up the metal box in which he had placed what he thought was the dead baby. Villefort tells Madame Danglars that there is a chance the baby was alive, though when he placed the baby in the box he thought it was dead. If the baby had been dead, Bertuccio could have used the corpse against Villefort, but Bertuccio did not do this.

With this realization, Villefort recalls all of the count’s actions at the dinner the previous night. Villefort concludes that the count must have known about the baby and the burial of the metal box. This places both Villefort and Madame Danglars in a lot of danger. At this point, all Villefort can do is investigate the count, discover his true identity, and try to find a way to discredit him.

Albert visits the count to invite him to a ball his father is sponsoring. Albert is also interested in whether the count has enjoyed any progress in getting him out of having to marry Danglars’s daughter. The count reports his earlier visit with Danglars. He also promises to attend the ball because Albert’s mother is very interested in seeing him.

It is revealed that the count has established two other identities he assumes from time to time, pretending that they live in Paris. When needed, the count dons the personality of Abbey Busoni. At other times, he pretends to be Lord Wilmore.

Upon learning of these people but not knowing they are the count in disguise, Villefort has his investigators visit both of these men to gather information on the count, such as where he comes from and how he obtained his wealth.

The abbey tells Villefort’s men that the count is the son of a rich shipbuilder. He also states that Lord Wilmore, an Englishman, is an enemy of the count’s. The count’s real name, the abbey says, is Zaccone.

When Villefort’s investigators visit Lord Wilmore, the lord states that he has known the count since he was a child. The count’s wealth comes from having discovered a silver mine, and he is furthering his accounts while in Paris by investing in the railroads. The hostility between the two men stems from a love affair the count had at one time as well as several duels the two men have fought.