Edmond Dantès
doubt, the person to whom you allude as now in Paris, for he has
disappeared from Rome. You are right in assuming that he had aid.
He was assisted by a young Frenchman, and that young Frenchman was
your son, Esperance. Annunziata suffered the usual fate of abducted
peasant girls, and was deserted by her dastardly abductor in a
fastness controlled by my band. When the abduction took place,
Annunziata's brother strove to rescue her, but was attacked and
killed by Massetti. Through my means the girl was returned to her
home, but she was miserable there and fled; she is now in an asylum
for unfortunate women founded at Civita Vecchia by the Order of
Sisters of Refuge, and superintended by a French lady, a Madame
Helena de Rancogne, who, as is said, was formerly called the
Countess of Monte-Cristo.[1] It is due to your son to say that he
was entirely misled in regard to the abduction of Annunziata
Solara, and is altogether innocent of crime or intention to commit
it. The whole burden of guilt rests upon the shoulders of the
Viscount Massetti, who, I believe, compelled your son at the
pistol's mouth to take a fearful oath of silence.
LUIGI VAMPA.
When Esperance had read this letter that so effectually cleared him, and
was such a fearful arraignment of the Viscount Massetti, he restored it
to his father and sank into his chair utterly overcome by the terrible
excitement and mental strain through which he had passed. M. Dantes
forced him to swallow a glass of wine that partially restored him; then,
turning to M. Lamartine, who had been an astonished spectator of this
strange and to him incomprehensible family scene, he said:
"My dear friend, you are amazed, and you have a right to be. This letter
that has caused my son and daughter so much emotion comes from a Roman
brigand chief, no other than Luigi Vampa, whose name is notorious
throughout Europe. You will understand its importance when I inform you
that it conclusively clears my son of an exceedingly grave charge."
M. Lamartine arose and took Esperance by the hand.
"I heartily congratulate you," said he.
"And Giovanni Massetti?" asked Zuleika, in a tremulous voice.
"Giovanni Massetti is unworthy of my daughter's hand!" replied M.
Dantes.
"Let me see that letter," said Zuleika, her cheek growing paler and her
heart beating tumultuously.
Her father gave it to her. She took it and read each line with an
intensity of interest that was painful to behold. When she had reached
the end, her eyes suddenly lighted up and the color came rushing back to
her pallid cheeks.
"Esperance," she said, facing her brother with an air of resolution
beneath which he quailed, "Luigi Vampa has not told all! Something he
has kept back, and that something you know. What is it? Speak!"
"Luigi Vampa has told the truth!" replied the young man, doggedly.
"Yes, but not the whole truth. What has he kept back?"
Esperance shook his head.
"He has told the truth!" he repeated.
"Did the Viscount Massetti administer the oath of silence to you?"
"He did."
"Then who administered that oath to Giovanni?"
The young man did not answer.
"There is some mystery about this complicated affair yet unexplained,
and until it is explained I cannot believe Giovanni Massetti guilty!"
"Come, come, my daughter," said M. Dantes, soothingly, "your heart
speaks and not your mind."
"My heart and mind both speak, papa," replied Zuleika, "and both say
that Giovanni Massetti is innocent."
"Let him prove it then."
"I feel certain that he can and will."
"Well, well, child, go to Madame Dantes and take counsel of her. Only a
woman can heal a young girl's love wounds."
Zuleika quitted the salle-a-manger, her countenance yet bearing the
stamp of an inflexible belief and a fixed determination.
"Esperance," said M. Dantes, "your honor is unstained and you are
restored to my heart. I thank God for the blessings of this day!"
"You are a true father, Edmond, as well as a true patriot," said M.
Lamartine, "and I feel assured that your son will be worthy of you and
of our beloved France."
* * * * *
That very day Giovanni Massetti received an unsigned little note,
written in a tiny feminine hand. It was phrased thus:
"I believe you innocent in spite of all! Prove to me and to the
world that you are so."
Enclosed in this little note was Luigi Vampa's letter to M. Dantes.
The next morning it became known that the Viscount Massetti had
disappeared from Paris. Gossip assigned a thousand scandalous motives
for his sudden flight, but gossip could form no idea as to whither he
had fled. Zuleika[2] however, knew that he had returned to Italy to
clear his name and prove himself worthy of her love!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The exceedingly romantic history of Madame de Rancogne will be found
in that fascinating and absorbing novel, "The Countess of Monte-Cristo,"
published by Messrs. T. B. Peterson & Brothers, a wonderful book that
everybody should read.
[2] A full account, from this point, of the life and remarkable career
of "Zuleika, the Daughter of Monte-Cristo," will be found in the
brilliant, original, and absorbing novel just published by T. B.
Peterson & Brothers, Philadelphia, in uniform style with "Edmond
Dantes," entitled "MONTE-CRISTO'S DAUGHTER," being the Sequel to
Alexander Dumas' famous novel, "The Count of Monte-Cristo," and
Conclusion of "Edmond Dantes." "MONTE-CRISTO'S DAUGHTER" will be found
to be of unflagging interest, abounding in ardent love scenes and
stirring adventures, while the Count of Monte-Cristo figures largely in
it, and many of the original Monte-Cristo characters are also introduced
into the volume, making it in point of brilliancy, power, and absorbing
interest fully equal to its famous predecessors.
THE END.