The Room in the Dragon Volant · Chapter
Strange Story of the Dragon Volant explained
At a masked ball, the narrator removes his mask and meets Tom Whistlewick, who introduces him to Monsieur Carmaignac.
What happens
At a masked ball, the narrator removes his mask and meets Tom Whistlewick, who introduces him to Monsieur Carmaignac. Carmaignac recounts the mysterious disappearance of the Chevalier Château Blassemare, a wealthy émigré who vanished after staying in the same room at the Dragon Volant that the narrator now occupies. The story involves a heavy bag of gold, a midnight sighting at a cemetery, and no resolution. The narrator invites both men to dine with him the next day, then returns to the inn.
Themes in this chapter
Danger and the Supernatural
The story of the Chevalier's disappearance, with its eerie cemetery sighting and unsolved mystery, introduces a supernatural-tinged danger surrounding the Dragon Volant.
Isolation and Vulnerability
The narrator learns that his room at the Dragon Volant was the site of two vanishings, heightening his sense of vulnerability in a lonely setting.
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The masked ball itself embodies deception, and the Chevalier's seemingly ordinary departure hides a sinister disappearance.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Attends the masked ball, removes his mask, converses with Tom Whistlewick and Monsieur Carmaignac, and invites them to dinner at the Dragon Volant.
- Tom Whistlewick
A Waterloo hero, slightly tipsy, introduces the narrator to Monsieur Carmaignac and later peeps into a fortune-teller's booth.
- Monsieur Carmaignac
A French official who relates the mysterious case of the Chevalier Château Blassemare, which involved the same room at the Dragon Volant.
- Count Château Blassemare
A wealthy émigré who disappeared after staying at the Dragon Volant; last seen at a cemetery with a pistol.
Key passages
“I removed my mask, therefore, as I saw some other people do, who were as careless of mystery as I.”
I took off my mask, following the example of others who were not concerned with keeping their identity secret.
The narrator chooses to unmask at the ball, showing his indifference to the masquerade's mystery.
“I heard a friendly English voice call me by my name. It was Tom Whistlewick, of the —th Dragoons.”
An English voice I recognized called out to me; it was Tom Whistlewick, a dragoon officer.
Tom Whistlewick, a fellow Englishman, greets the narrator at the ball.
“I heard you mention that you had engaged an apartment in the Dragon Volant, about half a league from this. When I was in a different police department, about four years ago, two very strange cases were connected with that house.”
You mentioned you're staying at the Dragon Volant. Four years ago, when I worked in another police division, two peculiar incidents were linked to that inn.
Monsieur Carmaignac reveals the Dragon Volant's dark history to the narrator.
“The boy was a little nervous as he approached this ancient cemetery; and, under the bright moonlight, he saw a man whom he distinctly recognised as the Count, whom they designated by a sobriquet which means 'the man of smiles.' He was looking rueful enough now, and was seated on the side of a tombstone, on which he had laid a pistol, while he was ramming home the charge of another.”
The boy, frightened near the old cemetery, saw the Count—usually called 'the smiling man'—sitting grimly on a tombstone, loading a pistol in the moonlight.
A witness describes seeing the Chevalier in a cemetery, preparing a weapon, shortly before his disappearance.
