Monte-Cristo's Daughter
and in the presence of the fair Annunziata herself."
Peppino paused for an instant and then continued:
"These preliminary details, Signor Count, are necessary to enable you to
understand the conspiracy which was speedily to be hatched. The peasant,
who had conducted Massetti and your son to the very spot the former had
left Rome to seek, was Annunziata's brother. Old Pasquale Solara was
absent from home at the time of the arrival of the strangers, but
returned shortly afterwards. I have no doubt that he had long been in
league with Luigi Vampa and had been secretly acting as his agent and
confederate. At any rate, when he arrived he was well aware that the
young men were at his cabin and was also thoroughly informed as to their
identity, though, with his habitual cunning, he concealed both facts,
feigning surprise and dissatisfaction when it was announced to him by
his children that he had guests. Secretly he was delighted, for the
presence of young Massetti gave him an opportunity at once to take a
signal revenge on the old Count, whom he had long bitterly hated, and to
divert the crashing stigma of a fiendish act he meditated from himself
to the name and fame of another."
"Do you mean to assert that this wretched old man had base designs
against his own daughter?" said the Count, his visage expressing all the
horror he felt.
"Exactly," answered Peppino, coolly. "Old Solara, miserable miser as he
is, had for a very large sum of the gold he so ardently coveted sold his
own child, his beautiful daughter Annunziata, to the bandit chief Luigi
Vampa!"
"The black-hearted demon!" exclaimed Monte-Cristo. "He is unworthy of
the name of man! In Paris the indignant populace would crush him to
death beneath their feet!"
"So, you see," resumed the Italian, "the arrival of Massetti was
opportune, and Pasquale Solara, after having seen that the Viscount was
safely housed beneath the roof of his cabin, hastened back to Luigi
Vampa and together they laid the foul plot that succeeded but too well.
A more shrewdly devised and thoroughly concealed piece of diabolical
villainy has never stained the annals of the civilized world!"
CHAPTER XVIII.
MORE OF PEPPINO'S STORY.
Monte-Cristo was horrified by what he had heard. His whole soul revolted
at the idea of a father who could deliberately and in cold blood sell
his daughter, at the idea of a wretch who with equal deliberation could
cast the blame of a villainy committed by himself upon an innocent man.
It had seemed very strange to the Count, at the time Luigi Vampa had
written to him, that the brigand chief should be so thoroughly posted in
regard to the innocence of Esperance and the guilt of the Viscount
Massetti, but in the light of the astounding revelations just made by
Peppino it became abundantly clear that Vampa in the young Italian's
case had been actuated by the strongest possible motive, namely, the
desire to shield himself, and that in order to do so effectually he had
not shrunk from the vilest and most complete falsehood. Of course, Vampa
had not wished to inculpate Esperance because of the old-time compact,
the relations that had subsisted between him and Monte-Cristo in the
past; that was equally plain; besides one victim was sufficient, and in
selecting Massetti as that victim the brigand chief had evidently acted
at the instigation of old Pasquale Solara.
Peppino proceeded with his disclosures.
"Signor Count," said he, "I had long suspected that something was on
the carpet between Vampa and old Solara. The moody and morose shepherd
did not at first come to the bandits' haunt, but in response to a signal
he used, a peculiar vibrating whistle, the chief would go out alone and
meet him. This signal and Vampa's actions aroused my curiosity; more
than once I followed the chief and, securely hidden behind a tree or a
rock, witnessed the secret meetings, overhearing portions of the
conversation. Annunziata Solara was frequently mentioned, and the father
seemed to be endeavouring to drive a hard bargain with Vampa. At last
one night they came to an understanding. I heard the chief agree to pay
old Pasquale an enormous sum of money upon the delivery of Annunziata
into his hands, and then I realized that the nefarious sale had been
concluded. It was decided that the ill-fated girl should be passed over
to Vampa at the first opportunity, and that opportunity came when the
Viscount Massetti and your son Esperance were domiciled at the isolated
cabin in the forest.
"I was on the alert and when, after assuring himself of the arrival of
the two young men at his hut, old Pasquale sought the bandits'
rendezvous and sounded his vibrating signal, I heard it. Stealthily
following Vampa, I concealed myself as I had done on previous occasions.
I was now thoroughly familiar with the details of the base transaction
in progress between the precious pair and could readily comprehend even
their most obscure and guarded allusions. Old Solara informed the chief
that the young men had arrived, proposing that Vampa should abduct
Annunziata at the earliest possible moment, so arranging matters that
suspicion would fall upon the Viscount Massetti. This the chief agreed
to do. The shepherd was to keep him posted, and the abduction was to
take place when circumstances were best calculated to promote the
success of all the phases of the villainous plot. With this
understanding the conspirators separated.
"Fate sided with old Pasquale and Vampa. His wound kept the Viscount at
the cabin and the fair Annunziata nursed him. He had become smitten with
her beauty the day he met her in the Piazza del Popolo. Intimate
association with her intensified her influence over him, and when he had
been in the cabin nearly a week and convalescence had begun he made
violent love to her, even going so far as to ask her to fly with him.
Esperance divined his friend's intentions and, knowing that Massetti
could not marry the girl, interposed to save her. The result was a
quarrel and your son challenged the Viscount to fight him. The challenge
was instantly accepted and it was arranged that the duel should occur on
the following morning.
"Faithful to his promise to Vampa, old Solara, while pretending to be
absent from home, lurked in the vicinity and kept track of all that was
going on. He was hidden beneath the open window when Massetti or Tonio,
as he called himself, for both the Viscount and Esperance were passing
under assumed names, proposed flight to his daughter. Instantly he
hastened to the brigand chief, who had been prowling in the
neighborhood of the hut all day, and gleefully communicated to him what
he had heard. It was immediately decided that the time for the abduction
had come and preparations were made to carry off Annunziata that very
night. Vampa wrote a criminating letter to the girl purporting to come
from Massetti, and old Solara, stealing unobserved into the hut, placed
it beneath his daughter's work-box on her table where she afterwards
found it. It was not for a moment supposed that the girl would consent
to fly with the Viscount, for though gay and light-hearted she was pure
and innocent; the note was simply intended to fill Annunziata's mind,
after the abduction, with the idea that Massetti was her abductor."
"What shrewd, far-seeing villainy!" muttered Monte-Cristo, between his
teeth.
"That night there was no moon," continued Peppino, "and, after all the
inmates of the cabin had retired to rest, old Pasquale waited outside
with a torch while Vampa made his way to Annunziata's chamber, tore her
from her couch and carried her to the forest, preventing her from giving
the alarm by placing his hand over her mouth. He was masked and the
shepherd kept at such a distance that it was utterly impossible for his
daughter to recognize him. As Vampa ran through the forest with his
burden, he struck his arm against a tree and the pain caused him to take
his hand for a second from Annunziata's mouth. The poor girl profited by
this opportunity to scream and her cry brought first her brother, then
the Viscount and then Esperance to her aid.
"The brother on reaching Vampa attacked him fiercely. Dropping the
girl, who stood rooted to the spot, the chief drew a pistol and fired at
his assailant. The latter was hit and staggered back, the blood gushing
from his wound. Somehow during the struggle Vampa became unmasked and,
in the prevailing obscurity, Annunziata naturally imagined that the face
suddenly uncovered and as quickly masked again was that of her suitor,
the so-called Tonio. Having disposed of the brother, who afterwards ran
back towards the cabin, met Esperance, rushed into his arms and then
fell to the ground where he died, the brigand chief seized Annunziata,
who meanwhile had swooned, and resumed his flight through the forest.
Hearing the sound of further pursuit, Vampa paused in dismay and
listened. Three persons seemed to be rapidly approaching. The chief
thereupon concealed the unconscious girl behind a huge fragment of rock
and threw himself flat upon the ground, hoping thus to escape
observation. As he did so he saw the glare of old Solara's torch. It
flashed full in the face of a peasant, a perfect stranger, who had heard
Annunziata's cry and come to the rescue. The shepherd had a knife in one
hand; he instantly cast away his torch and closed in desperate conflict
with the new comer. At that moment the Viscount came upon the scene,
moving as if to take the part of the stranger. Vampa leaped up, grasped
him by the throat and, under the threat of instant death if he refused,
forced him to take an oath of silence in regard to the events of the
night. Massetti was so bewildered that he scarcely knew what he was
doing. No sooner had he taken the oath than Vampa treacherously dealt
him a crushing blow that sent him reeling to the ground, where he lay
motionless and unconscious. Then the chief again threw himself upon the
soil, springing up once more to face Esperance. The latter aimed a
pistol at him, but he whirled it from his hand. Then the young man
struck fiercely at him, but Vampa dodged the blow and his adversary fell
forward from his own impetus on a thick growth of moss beside Massetti's
prostrate form. Taking prompt advantage of his opportunity, the chief
secured possession of the yet unconscious Annunziata and this time
succeeded in bearing her in triumph to a hut he had provided for her
reception."
Peppino then proceeded to relate what the reader has already learned
from Annunziata's pitiful recital to Mme. de Rancogne in the Refuge at
Civita Vecchia. When he had concluded, he glanced at his auditor and
said:
"Are you satisfied, Signor Count?"
"I am," answered Monte-Cristo, in a hoarse voice that sounded strangely
unlike his own. "You have fully earned the freedom of yourself and your
comrade Beppo. The tale of black iniquity you have so vividly told me
might seem improbable in other ears but to me it bears the impress of
truth. One point, however, is obscure. I cannot imagine in what manner
you learned the particulars of certain events in your narrative, events
which you could not have witnessed with your own eyes. Enlighten me on
this point."
"Willingly," answered Peppino, without the slightest hesitation. "I
learned the details you speak of partly from Vampa himself and partly
from old Solara. The twain compared notes after the latter had openly
joined the bandits, and I took good care to overhear their
conversation."
Monte-Cristo had arisen and now paced the cell for several moments
plunged in deep thought. His brow was cloudy and dark, but his eyes
sparkled fiercely and his hands were clenched so tightly that his nails
left red marks in his flesh. The Italian still sitting on the edge of