Oh! It’s true, Dantès. I forgot that among the Catalans there is someone who waits you with no less impatience than your father. It’s the beautiful Mercédès! Ah! Ah! Nothing surprised me more, Edmond, than that she came 3 times to ask me for news of the Pharaoh.
EDMOND
She came, sir?
MOREL
In person. Plague! Edmond, you have nothing to complain of, and you have a pretty mistress.
EDMOND
She is not my mistress, sir, she is my fiancée.
MOREL
Often it’s the same thing.
EDMOND
Not for us!
MOREL
Come, come, my dear Edmond, don’t let me keep you. You’ve done my business so well that I can give you leisure to attend to your own affairs. Do you need some money?
EDMOND
No, sir, I have all my stipends from the trip, earning 3 or 4 months of pay.
MOREL
You are a well-ordered boy, Edmond.
EDMOND
Add that I have a poor father, sir, and that my fiancée is not rich.
MOREL
Go then to see your father and your fiancée, Edmond, go!
EDMOND
Then you will excuse me?
MOREL
Yes, if you have nothing more to tell me.
EDMOND
No, sir—Penelon—the small boat!
MOREL
Tell me, Edmond, Captain Leclere, as he was dying, didn’t he leave you a letter for me?
EDMOND
It was impossible for him to write, sir. But I recall that I have to ask you for eight days leave.
MOREL
To get married, Edmond?
EDMOND
Yes, sir, first of all, then to go to Paris.
MOREL
Good! You will have the time that you wish. It will take us six weeks to load and unload the boat, and we won’t go back to sea for two months. Only in two months, you will have to be there, Dantès. The Pharaoh, cannot, you understand, put to sea without its captain.
EDMOND
Without its captain? Pay attention to what you say there, sir? For you have just answered my heart’s most secret hopes. Your intention is to name me captain of the Pharaoh?
MOREL
If I were alone, my dear Dantès, I would offer to shake hands on it, and I would say to you, “Put it there.” But for the last 3 or 4 years, I’ve had an associate, and you know the Italian proverb, “He who has a companion, has a master.” But half of the needful is done, since of two votes, you already have one. Count on me to obtain the second, and I will do my best.
EDMOND
Ah, sir, I thank you in the name of my father and Mercédès! Me, captain! My God, Mr. Morel, you’ve just spoken a word I didn’t expect to hear for four or five years.
MOREL
It’s fine, it’s fine, Edmond. There’s a God in heaven for brave young men. Go see your father, go see Mercédès and come to me afterwards.
PENELON
The boat is prepared Mr. Edmond.
EDMOND
Good, my friend.
(to Morel)
Would you like me to row you back to shore?
MOREL
No thanks. I will stay to settle my accounts with Danglars. Were you happy with him during the voyage?
EDMOND
It depends on the way you mean the question, sir. If you mean as a good comrade, no! For I believe he looks at me with rancor since the day, at the end of a little quarrel, I had the stupidity to suggest that we make a short stop together at the island of Monte Cristo. If it is an accountant, I believe there is nothing to reproach him with and that you will be content with the manner in which his work was done.
MOREL
But, come, Dantès, be frank. If you were captain of the Pharaoh, would you keep Danglars, with pleasure?
EDMOND
Captain or mate, Mr. Morel, I will always have the highest regards for those who possess the confidence of my backers.
MOREL
In truth, Dantès, you are in every way an estimable young man. But I won’t keep you any longer. I see that you are on burning coals.
EDMOND
I then take my leave.
MOREL
Go, I tell you.
EDMOND
Then goodbye, Mr. Morel, and a thousand thanks.
MOREL
Till we meet again, my dear Edmond—good luck!
(to Danglars)
And now, Mr. Danglars, business.
BLACKOUT
ACT I, SCENE 2
The home of Edmond’s father. A little room with a sloping roof, window filled with creeping plants.
LA CARCONTE
So there, Papa Dantès, you say that my drunken Caderousse isn’t here.
DANTÈS
No, cousin, I haven’t even seen him all day.
LA CARCONTE
Go on! He must still be at the cabaret.
DANTÈS
Let’s
