The Count of Monte Cristo - Chapter 32 — The Waking

Franz d’Épinay awakens in a sunlit grotto on the island of Monte Cristo, unsure whether the wonders of the previous night—the feast, the jeweled cave, the mysterious host calling himself “Sinbad the Sailor”—had been dream or reality. The yacht is already sailing away, its master saluting him from afar. Searching the cavern by torchlight, Franz finds only bare rock; the secret entrance is gone. Returning to the mainland, he resumes his travels and reunites with Albert de Morcerf in crowded, carnival-bound Rome. Yet the enigma of Sinbad the Sailor lingers in his mind, a dazzling memory that feels half-imagined and wholly unforgettable.