The Promise and the Pseudonym (The Count of Monte Cristo, Chapter 29 – Part 14)

With solemn precision, the Englishman renews M. Morrel’s bills, extending the deadline for payment until September 5th. The merchant, though grateful beyond words, mutters under his breath that he will either repay the debt or die trying. His reprieve is measured not in hope but in time — three months to rebuild what fate has destroyed.

The Englishman accepts Morrel’s gratitude with the calm reserve of his assumed nationality, then allows himself to be escorted to the door. On the staircase, he encounters Julie, who has been waiting anxiously. She stops him, desperate to express her thanks. But instead of accepting her words, the stranger gives her a cryptic instruction: one day she will receive a letter signed Sinbad the Sailor, and she must follow its instructions exactly, no matter how strange they seem. Julie, trembling with trust and confusion, swears that she will obey.

Before leaving, the stranger adds one final, tender prophecy — that Heaven will reward her goodness by giving her Emmanuel for a husband. Blushing, she can only whisper his name as he departs.

 

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