Monte-Cristo's Daughter
possessed would overtake him, which was the more probable. The Count had
not hoped for much from Annunziata Solara, though he had calculated
somewhat on the effect upon her of his assurance that he possessed
conclusive proof of Giovanni's innocence. His recent interview with the
girl, however, had established the fact that she firmly believed the
Viscount guilty, and it was fair to presume that she would retain her
belief in the face of everything with all the proverbial obstinacy of
woman. Besides, after all, what was his conclusive proof? Simply the
unsupported assertions of a former member of Vampa's band, who in making
them had clearly been actuated by a desire of wreaking personal
vengeance upon old Pasquale Solara!
The Count was not a little discouraged, but his own conviction of the
truth of Peppino's statement was as strong as ever and, notwithstanding
all the apparently insurmountable obstacles, he did not doubt that he
would eventually find some way to force Vampa and the shepherd into a
full confirmation of every diabolical detail related by the ex-bandit in
the cell of the police poste in Paris.
As he sat thus communing with his sombre thoughts and reflecting that
the delay might stretch out into many months, a knock was heard at his
door and in response to his permission Peppino entered the salon.
A glance at the man's pale and agitated countenance was sufficient to
tell Monte-Cristo that something unusual had happened.
"Well," said he, gazing keenly at him, "what is it?"
The man looked hastily about the apartment and, having satisfied himself
that his master was alone, came close to him, bending down and
whispering in his ear:
"Signor Count, a strange visitor is below, asking to see you. He is
garbed like a Roman noble and his face is made up with paints and
cosmetics like that of an actor on the stage of a theatre. Still, I
think I have pierced his disguise and that he is no less a personage
than Luigi Vampa himself!"
"Ah!" said the Count, rising, with a smile of satisfaction. "Heaven
grant that you are correct! If Vampa is here, his visit will simplify
matters."
"But you do not mean to see the brigand chief, do you, Signor Count?"
said Peppino, in a startled tone.
"Why, pray, should I not see him when for so long I have been
impatiently awaiting an opportunity to meet him?" asked Monte-Cristo, in
amazement.
"Because," answered the Italian, with an unmistakable display of fear,
"he may have divined your mission to Rome and his business with you here
to-day may be assassination!"
Monte Cristo laughed heartily.
"My good fellow," said he, in a reassuring tone, "dismiss your childish
terrors. Vampa will not dare even to attempt to harm me! Show the
mysterious visitor up and let the problem of his identity be solved!"
"I know your power over Vampa, Signor Count," returned Peppino,
hesitating, "but still in this peculiar instance it may fail you!"
"Pshaw!" said the Count, impatiently. "I tell you I do not fear Vampa.
Show him up at once."
Peppino very reluctantly quitted the salon, soon returning with the
suspicious visitor.
Monte-Cristo advanced to meet the new comer, who silently pointed to
Peppino, motioning towards the door. The Count nodded to the ex-bandit
and with a slow step he left the room.
Although Vampa was carefully disguised and even elegantly dressed in the
fashionable attire of the Roman aristocracy, Monte-Cristo, like Peppino,
had no difficulty whatever in recognizing him.
"Well, Luigi Vampa!" said he, facing his visitor and calmly folding his
arms as soon as they were alone. "What do you want with me?"
The brigand chief did not seem either disconcerted or surprised even in
the slightest degree. He boldly returned his host's gaze and said:
"I knew you would recognize me at once, for I am well aware of your
extraordinary keenness and penetration, Signor Count, but, to confess
the truth, my disguise was not intended to deceive you; its sole object
was to secure me safe entrance to and exit from Rome which of late has
become dangerous for men in my line of industry!"
The Count smiled in his peculiar way.
"What do you want with me, Luigi Vampa?" he repeated. "Your errand must
be of vast importance since you have taken so much trouble to execute
it!"
"It is of vast importance, Signor Count. This morning one of the most
efficient members of my band, old Pasquale Solara, was attacked and
severely wounded by your protege the Viscount Giovanni Massetti!"
"Old Solara attacked and severely wounded by the Viscount Massetti?
Impossible!"
The Count was greatly disconcerted by this intelligence; he could not
conceal his chagrin. The Viscount's rashness and impetuosity would ruin
all!
"What I say is true," continued Vampa, "and I have come to you to
protest. You must restrain this Viscount Massetti, this reckless madman!
He professes to have a grudge against Pasquale Solara and there is no
telling to what length he may go if you do not control him. Had Pasquale
been able to speak when discovered lying bathed in blood upon the
highway by some of the members of my band, young Massetti would have
been pursued, captured and made to pay for his murderous assault with
his life; but it was only later, when brought into my presence, that he
became sufficiently conscious to relate what had happened. Signor Count,
I wish to respect your friends, but they on their part must respect me
and my band!"
"Luigi Vampa," replied Monte-Cristo, sternly, "you say that young
Massetti has a grudge against old Pasquale Solara! What you seek to
belittle with the name of grudge is simply just indignation for an
outrage such as human beings rarely commit! This you know!--you to whom
Solara basely sold his daughter!--you who plotted with the aged
scoundrel that the charge of abduction and murder might fall upon the
Viscount's innocent shoulders when you, Luigi Vampa, were the guilty
man!"
The brigand chief started and grew pale beneath the paint and cosmetics
with which his visage was thickly coated.
"You have been deceived, Signor Count!" he stammered, taken at a
disadvantage, but nevertheless speaking guardedly and endeavoring to put
on a bold front. "The girl herself, Annunziata Solara, will swear to you
that the Viscount Giovanni Massetti was her abductor and the author of
her ruin!"
"Yes," replied Monte-Cristo, bitterly, "she will and does say so, for
she has been completely blinded by the cunning, fiendish stratagems you
resorted to, aided and abetted by that infamous miscreant old Pasquale
Solara, for whom a lingering death upon the rack of the ancient Spanish
Inquisition would not be a sufficient punishment!"
"You speak very confidently, Signor Count," said Vampa, resuming his
cool self-possession. "Pray tell me how you are going to prove all
this?"
"I should be foolish, indeed, did I do so," replied Monte-Cristo, seeing
the brigand chief's trap and adroitly avoiding being caught in it.
"However, suffice it to say that I can and will make good all I have
asserted! Even Annunziata Solara herself shall be thoroughly convinced!"
"Signor Count," said Vampa, pleadingly, "we have long been good friends,
have long understood each other perfectly. Do not let the idle tales
designing persons have poured into your ears destroy that friendship and
that understanding!"
"I have heard no idle tales from designing persons," retorted the Count.
"What I have heard was a plain and simple statement of the truth. I know
how old Solara summoned you with his signal whistle, how you bargained
with him for his beautiful daughter and how you finally bought her of
him! I know how you abducted the girl while her infamous father waited
outside the cabin with a torch, how you bore her away in your arms
through the forest, murdering her brother and in turn encountering my
son Esperance and the Viscount Massetti. I know how you carried her to
the hut you had prepared, how you kept her a close prisoner there
guarded by members of your band until your shameful object was
accomplished! I know how you wrote that letter signed Tonio which was
intended to influence Annunziata's belief in the Viscount's guilt, and I
know how old Solara secreted it where his daughter afterwards found and
read it! Now, Luigi Vampa, are you satisfied? You said a moment ago that
we have long understood each other. I hope there will be no
misunderstanding on your part when I tell you that I mean to force both
you and old Solara to confess your crimes and make reparation for them
as far as possible!"
"Then you declare war against us?" cried the brigand chief.
"I do!" answered Monte-Cristo, coldly.
"Then in my own name and in that of Pasquale Solara, I defy you, Edmond
Dantes, Count of Monte-Cristo!"
He backed towards the door as if afraid the Count would attack him. When
he reached it, he turned, flung it open and stepped into the corridor,
instantly finding himself in the grasp of Peppino and Beppo, who at once
handed him over to a squad of policemen, the officer in charge of whom
said:
"I arrest you, Luigi Vampa! Follow me!"
CHAPTER XXVII.
THE BANDITS' REPRISALS.
Monte-Cristo was astounded when he saw Luigi Vampa arrested by the Roman
policeman and his squad; his first thought was that Peppino, unwilling
to let slip so fair an opportunity to obtain vengeance, had betrayed the
brigand chief to the authorities; this idea was apparently confirmed by
the part the two ex-bandits had taken in their former leader's capture;
hence after the officers and their prisoner had departed, he turned
fiercely upon Peppino and said, in a tone of anger:
"This is fine work for one of my servants to do, especially one so
trusted as you!"
"Signor Count," answered Peppino, humbly, "you are mistaken. I had no
hand in it whatever save obeying the order of the officer in command of
the police."
"Indeed!" cried the Count, incredulously.
"Yes," continued Peppino, in the same humble voice, "and Beppo here is
equally innocent. The officer tracked Vampa to the hotel and was
informed that I had conducted him into your presence. He thereupon sent
for me, directing me without further ado to take Beppo, who chanced to
be in my company, and seize the chief, who was personally unknown to
him, the instant he quitted your salon. I trust your Excellency will
pardon us, as we could do nothing but obey."
"In that case," said Monte-Cristo, "no blame attaches to either of you,
but, nevertheless, Vampa's arrest at this critical juncture will
seriously interfere with my projected operations."
The police had conducted matters very quietly; still, the tramp of many
feet in the corridor had awakened the Viscount and filled him with
terror. Knowing the unparalleled audacity of the bandits, he at once
jumped to the conclusion that a body of them had entered Rome and taken
possession of the Hotel de France with the object of seizing upon him as
the murderer of old Pasquale Solara, who, he did not doubt, was dead.
When the tramping feet, which the Count and Vampa were too much
engrossed to hear, paused in front of his very door he became fixed in
this conclusion and sprang from his bed in wild alarm. He looked hastily
around him for some avenue of escape, but there was none. If the
brigands were without he was trapped and would speedily be in their
hands. He listened with the utmost anxiety, expecting every instant that
his door would be forced and his relentless foes come thronging into the
chamber. No such movement, however, was made. A deathlike silence
prevailed. What was the meaning of all this? What was taking place or
about to occur? If the men in the corridor were not Luigi Vampa's
bandits, who were they? The Viscount lost himself in a bewildering maze