Part 41 (2/2)
”Did the Viscount Ma.s.setti 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 Ma.s.setti 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 Ma.s.setti 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 G.o.d for the blessings of this day!”
”You are a true father, Edmond, as well as a true patriot,” said M.
Lamartine, ”and I feel a.s.sured that your son will be worthy of you and of our beloved France.”
That very day Giovanni Ma.s.setti 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 Ma.s.setti had disappeared from Paris. Gossip a.s.signed 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,” ent.i.tled ”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.
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