Part 38 (2/2)
”Why child,” said her father, in a startled tone, ”what is the matter with you? You are weeping and seem very sad. Has anything happened to young Ma.s.setti?”
”Not that I am aware of, papa,” answered Zuleika, in a low voice. ”But, nevertheless, it is of him I wish to speak.”
M. Dantes pushed his book from him, motioned his daughter to a seat and prepared to listen as she did not begin at once, but seemed to hesitate, he said, kindly:
”I am waiting, little one; proceed.”
Thus encouraged, Zuleika summoned up all her strength and, with downcast eyes, commenced:
”Papa,” said she, ”in the first place let me a.s.sure you that this is no mere lovers' quarrel, but a matter of the utmost importance that demands immediate action.”
M. Dantes knitted his brows.
”Has the Viscount been guilty of any impropriety toward you?” he asked, fiercely.
”No, papa, not toward me, but I fear he may have been guilty of impropriety, or, at least, of indiscretion, with regard to another in the past.”
”A woman, no doubt.”
”Yes, papa, a woman--a Roman peasant.”
”I heard of some such thing while you were at the convent school in Rome, but dismissed it as a slander.”
”There may, however, be some truth in it.”
”But, now I recollect, Giovanni's name was not a.s.sociated with the scandal; it was a mere inference on my part that connected him with the youthful member of the Roman aristocracy mentioned by the gossips.”
”Perhaps I am unjust, papa, in reviving your suspicions, but Giovanni's strange behavior when I asked him the cause of his quarrel with Esperance and of the continued coldness between them, forced me to think there was something wrong.”
”His quarrel with Esperance? Ah! now I remember, there was a quarrel, but I imagined it was settled, and that their relations were altogether friendly.”
”They are enemies, papa, or seem to be, and that is not all--Esperance accuses Giovanni of having been guilty of some infamous deed.”
”You have spoken to Esperance then on the subject?”
”Yes, papa.”
”And what did he say?”
”He dealt in vague denunciations, and positively refused to give me any definite information.”
”That is singular.”
”But what is still more so is that both Giovanni and Esperance seem bound by some fearful oath not to disclose the dread secret in their possession.”
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