Editing Edmond Dantès (section)

=== The engagement and the arrest ===
The marriage never occurs, however. On the very night of their nuptial feast, Dantès is arrested as a suspected [[Bonapartist]], a helper to [[Napoléon]], and taken to see the public prosecutor, Gérard de Villefort. Edmond had been anonymously and falsely denounced by Danglars, Edmond's shipmate over whom he was promoted, and Fernand Mondego, a rival suitor for Mercédès' hand. Prosecutor De Villefort concludes that Edmond is innocent, and assures him that he will be released. He then asks for a piece of evidence cited in a letter denouncing Edmond to the authorities. The letter claims that on Edmond's last voyage, he made a stopover at the island of [[Elba]], and received a letter from the deposed Emperor Napoléon. Edmond hands over the letter, which he received in the name of Captain Leclère, and of which the contents are unknown to Edmond.  De Villefort throws the letter on the fire for the letter is addressed to his father. Once again he promises Edmond's speedy release. De Villefort has renounced his father, a staunch Bonapartist, and destroyed the letter to protect himself, not Edmond; to further protect his name, de Villefort sentences Edmond to imprisonment in the dreaded [[Chateau d'If]], an island [[fortress]] from which no prisoner had ever escaped, and to which the most dangerous [[political prisoner]]s are sent.