Two days later, a crowd gathered outside the Villefort mansion around ten in the morning. A long line of black funeral cars and private vehicles stretched down the upscale boulevard, an impressive display of wealth and status.
Among them sat one particularly unusual vehicle, a black covered wagon that looked like it had traveled from far away. It had arrived first, and when people asked about it, they discovered something shocking: inside was the body of the Marquis de Saint-Méran, Valentine's grandfather. What was supposed to be one funeral had suddenly become two.
The crowd swelled. The Marquis had been a powerful man with many connections in high society, and combined with those who felt obligated to attend out of respect for Prosecutor Villefort's position, the gathering was massive.
