Page:The life and writings of Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870) (IA lifewritingsofal00spurrich).pdf/252

 "Impressions de Voyage" through Paris, the idea being a perambulatory tour of the city from barrier to barrier, anecdotic, historic, archeological and above all, picturesque. But Sue had just written his "Mysteries of Paris," and the publishers, anxious to imitate the success of that book, modified their idea and demanded a story in which Paris should be the background merely. Dumas bethought him of an anecdote, twenty pages long, from the "Police devoilée" of Peuchet, entitled, "La Diamant et La Vengeance," of which he had made a mental note. The story itself he declares was tout simplement idiot, but it contained the germ of an idea.

The first outline of the book was no more than this—that a very rich nobleman, living in Rome, and called the Count of Monte Cristo, should render a great service to a young French traveller, and should beg him, when that gentleman desires to repay the kindness, to act as the Count's guide when he, in his turn, should visit Paris. Vengeance had inspired this thought, and when Monte Cristo "did" the French capital he was to discover enemies who were hidden there—his enemies, who had condemned him in his youth to ten years of captivity. His fortune was to furnish the Count with the means of revenge.

At this point Dumas acquainted Maquet (who, as we know, was his literary partner at the time)