1001 Stories For The Road

The Baron Danglars comes to the Count’s home in Paris to meet with him about business matters regarding the Cavalcantis. The Count says that Abbe Busoni has just arrived in Paris, and that he has been meeting with him, excusing himself for being late for the Baron. The Baron complains that, in recent days, his fortune has taken a significant hit on the Spanish question, and the Count, mocking the Baron but pretending to sympathize with him, says that the Baron’s is a “third-class fortune” because it can be affected by fluctuations in the stock or bond markets, or by changes in and garbled messages on the telegraph wires. The Baron insists that he has plenty of money to survive more stock turbulence, but the Count isn’t so sure. The Count uses his meeting with the Baron as another opportunity to bring Danglars down a peg. The Count’s revenge on Danglars, as revealed here and in ensuing chapters, will involve the slow erosion of his wealth and status, and the mockery of that erosion as it occurs. Danglars seems