the count of monte cristo

This book is pretty amazing.  The writing is incredible - I get lifted away as I read and I feel like I am this invisible observer watching the story unfold.  I am at a section of the book right now that is a little difficult to digest because I don't quite understand it.  Here's what's happening - Dantes, who was my hero of the book, (this seems to be slipping away), seems to have slipped from reality and has built an underground, wonderous orient excape on the Island of Monte Cristo. He has hired a dumb servant who had his tongue cut off for going beyond his "rights"; Dantes saved him (in a way) and he now lives in the underground with Dante.  Dante calls himself Sinbad the Sailor.  It seems as though he has travelled through the middle east and has collected all of the keepsakes from various countries and has decorated his underground home with them, concealled from everyone except for those he invites in.  He has invited people in (blindfolded) and has spent evenings with them talking and smoking hashish and when his visitors leave, they are left with such curiosity about this man and his home.  They try to find the entrance to the cave but can't - they search for it, for the opening to this underground world, but are continually unsuccessful.  Sinbad the Sailor has become almost like a living legend.

Did his years in captivity catch up to him?  There is much left to read...stay tuned