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Updated: June 7, 2025
It was hardly likely that Annunziata would recognize in Massetti and himself the two youthful gallants she had encountered but for a moment amid the gay throng and crush of the brilliant Piazza del Popolo. While these thoughts went flashing through his mind, the young Viscount, leaning heavily upon his arm, had not taken his eyes from the handsome, tempting girl before him.
Valentine was silent; she wished to get Massetti completely under her influence before speaking to him. Motionless and statuesquely she stood, allowing the maniac to gaze his fill at her. "Who are you, divine vision?" continued the Viscount, seeming to think himself the prey of some passing dream.
Had Espérance been misled by Vampa and the Viscount? Had he discovered too late the infamy of the affair and challenged Massetti on that account? This was, doubtless, the solution of the whole enigma, and yet Zuleika hesitated to accept it as such. No, no, she could not accept it without further and more convincing proof! But how was that proof to be obtained?
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 Espérance 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.
After quitting their guides at the Colosseum Maximilian and Valentine advanced towards the centre of the gladiatorial arena where the demented Giovanni Massetti was standing. He did not notice them, did not seem to pay even the slightest attention to his surroundings, but kept his eyes upturned towards heaven, the murmur of bitter malediction constantly issuing from his lips. As M. and Mme.
Occasionally, when Zuleika was with her father or in company with Mme. Morrel, young Massetti would take long walks into the country for the purpose of breathing the free air and increasing his strength by means of healthful exercise. During these strolls he shunned every person he met, it being Monte-Cristo's desire that he should studiously avoid observation.
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.
As M. Dantès read a shadow suddenly fell on the page of his book, and quickly looking up he saw his daughter Zuleika standing beside him; tears were in her eyes and a look of melancholy rested upon her countenance. "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 Massetti?"
She arose from her chair and, going to the divan, seated herself beside Espérance, determined to make a final attempt to draw his secret from him. Throwing her arms tenderly about his neck she said, in a coaxing tone: "If any sound reason exists why I should not love Giovanni Massetti, and you know it, your plain duty as my brother is to tell me. Will you not tell me, Espérance?"
The Count of Monte-Cristo had at first inclined to the belief that Massetti was merely the victim of circumstances, of some remarkable coincidence, but Vampa's letter scattered this belief to the winds and he demanded that the Viscount should conclusively prove his innocence.
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