ead
Haydee. He belonged to a family of great antiquity and boundless wealth,
and was reputed to possess a vast fortune in his own right. The Viscount
was only in his twenty-first year, but was exceedingly manly, dashing
and gallant. He was quite handsome and was said to be the soul of
honor, though his ardent temperament and headlong pursuit of whatever he
most coveted not unfrequently involved him in serious troubles, from
which, thanks to his own tact and the vast influence of his family, he
generally came out unscathed.

On Zuleika's arrival in Rome and before she had been placed in the
convent school, the Viscount Massetti had made her acquaintance in a way
that savored of romance and that made a deep impression upon the
inexperienced young girl. In Monte-Cristo's carriage, attended only by a
timid femme de chambre, she was one day crossing one of the two bridges
leading to the Island of San Bartolomeo, when a trace broke and the
horses took fright. The terrified driver lost control of them, and the
mad animals dashed along at a fearful rate, almost overturning the
carriage. Zuleika had arisen in the vehicle, which was an open barouche,
and was wildly clinging to the back of the front seat, her face white
with fear and her long black hair, which had become loosened, streaming
out behind her. Her wide open eyes had in them a look of tearful
supplication most difficult to resist. The young Viscount, who was
riding over the bridge on horseback at the time of the accident, could
not resist it. He sprang from his horse and, as the carriage passed him,
leaped into it. Seizing Zuleika by the waist, and holding her tightly to
him, he then made another spring, alighting safely with her upon the
roadway of the bridge. The flying horses were ultimately stopped and the
occupants of the badly shattered vehicle rescued from their dangerous
situation. This adventure caused the Count of Monte-Cristo to throw open
the doors of his palazzo to the young Italian, and he had been a
frequent visitor there up to the time of Zuleika's departure for the
convent school.

In the interval both the Viscount and the girl had become much attached
to each other, and then this mutual attachment had rapidly ripened into
mutual love of that ardor and intensity experienced only by children of
the southern or oriental sun. Young Massetti had avowed his passion to
his beautiful charmer, and the avowal had not caused her displeasure; it
was, on the con