iss Guard
advanced towards the judicial bench, bearing a stretcher upon which was
extended the emaciated form of the aged shepherd.

As her father was borne past her, Annunziata uttered a cry and arose to
go to him, but Mme. de Rancogne gently pulled her back into her chair,
whispering to her that he was in the custody of the Court and that she
could only see him after the trial was concluded, when the requisite
permission would be obtained for her.

Old Pasquale was lifted from the stretcher by a couple of soldiers and
aided to mount the witness stand. He was so faint and weak that it was
necessary to hold him in an upright position after he had with great
difficulty mounted the stand. Even then he trembled like a paralytic and
it was some moments before he could answer the questions addressed to
him. Vampa regarded him with intense anxiety, eagerly leaning forward to
catch the feeble, almost imperceptible sounds that issued from his lips.

"May it please your Eminence," said old Pasquale, painfully pausing
after every word, "I am a dying man. The hospital physician who has
accompanied me and is now in the Judgment Hall assures me that I can
last but a few days at most. I have been a great sinner, but I do not
desire to go before my angered God with all the weight of my iniquity
upon me; therefore, I have resolved to speak, to tell all I know!"

The spectators in the body of the hall shuddered. Old Solara's voice
did not reach them, but they felt instinctively that some dreadful
revelation was either being or about to be made. Monte-Cristo and
Massetti half arose in their seats; they were near enough to grasp the
purport of what the shepherd had said and its effect upon them was
absolutely overwhelming; they had expected that Pasquale would either
tell a cunningly fabricated tale calculated to shield Vampa or take
refuge in stony, stubborn silence, but instead he was going to make a
clean breast of the whole terrible crime! Annunziata had also heard and
was listening for what should follow with a countenance almost as white
as her nun's bonnet. Mme. de Rancogne caught her hands and held them
firmly; she too was startled beyond expression by old Solara's words and
feared the effect of further revelations upon her protegee. Zuleika,
Valentine, M. Morrel and Esperance were too far away from the witness
stand to comprehend a syllable, but like the spectators in the body of
the hall they divined what was on the point of