annot bear our separation, I cannot do without
you!"

The young man had risen to his feet and uttered these words loudly,
recklessly. Zuleika sprang up and caught him by the arm, her face white
with terror.

"Control yourself, Giovanni, control yourself!" she whispered, in a
frightened tone. "Speak lower, with more caution, or other ears than
mine will hear you!"

But the Viscount did not heed her. He was fearfully agitated and his
entire frame shook with excitement and emotion.

"Fly with me, Zuleika, fly with me now, this very moment, and be my
wife!" he exclaimed, in a voice so strangely altered that Monte-Cristo's
daughter scarcely recognized it. "I am rich, and my family has wealth
and power sufficient to protect us against everything and everybody,
even your father, with all his untold gold and influence! The Count of
Monte-Cristo seeks to part us; that is the reason he has sent you here,
to this convent, where you are little less than a prisoner!"

He caught her wildly in his arms and held her against his breast as if
defying fate. Zuleika, more terrified than ever, struggled in his
embrace and finally released herself. She faced Giovanni, and said,
warmly:

"You do my father injustice. He does not seek to part us. He esteems you
greatly, Viscount Massetti, loves you for the service you rendered me,
his daughter, and will reward that service with the highest recompense
in his power to bestow--my hand. But he considers me a child as yet,
wishes me to have education and experience before I marry, that I may
be a wife worth having and not a mere useless doll. Respect his wishes,
Giovanni, respect him. He is a good, kind-hearted man, and will do
right. His wisdom has been shown too often for me to doubt it!"

"His wisdom!" cried Massetti, bitterly. "Yes, he is wise, too wise to
bestow your hand upon me, a mere Viscount! What is my family in his
eyes? Nothing. What is my wealth? An utter trifle compared to his. I
tell you, Zuleika, he does not wish us to marry. He designs you for some
high potentate with riches to match the princely marriage-portion you
will have!"

"No, no!" cried the girl. "You are despondent, and in your despondency
misjudge him. He cares nothing for wealth or exalted station, but values
a good name and an unstained reputation above all else."

"But will you not be mine, will you not fly with me from this wretched
prison, in which I can see you only by stealth and like a criminal?"

Th