t. Rest assured that this
matter shall be sifted to the bottom. I know the extent of your love for
Giovanni Massetti; I also feel confident that I am not deceived in him,
and that he will be amply able to prove himself entirely worthy of your
hand. I have seen too much of men, Zuleika, and studied them too deeply,
to be deceived in reading character."

"Oh! thank you, thank you ever so much, papa, both for your promise, and
your kind, encouraging words. I, too, have full faith in Giovanni, but
still I cannot rest satisfied until his record is entirely and
conclusively cleared. No one must have the power to breathe even a
suspicion against the good name of your daughter's husband!"

"Spoken like a girl of spirit!" said M. Dantes, his eyes sparkling with
enthusiasm and admiration. "Now leave me, and I will write to Vampa."

Zuleika kissed her father and quitted the library with a much lighter
heart than she had entered it.

M. Dantes, by the exercise of his iron will, had managed to control
himself in her presence, but now that she had gone he gave free course
to his emotions. For a full hour he sat leaning on his writing-table,
his frame convulsed with anguish, and his mind filled with sad
forebodings. He did not for an instant doubt that both Esperance and the
Viscount could clear themselves from any criminal or dishonorable
charge, if they would consent to open their lips, but their silence and
Zuleika's belief that they were bound by some fearful oath gave him
great uneasiness. Besides, his son had mentioned Luigi Vampa's name, and
the thought that the young man was involved in some complication with
the Roman bandit sent a chill to his heart. He was convinced that
whatever had occurred had been merely the result of the folly and
headlong disposition of youth, but this was scarcely a consolation, for
he well knew to what length young men sometimes allowed themselves to be
carried, especially in what they considered a love-affair.

In addition, the more he thought of the half-forgotten Roman scandal,
the more clearly its particulars returned to him. He remembered that a
young and handsome peasant girl had been mysteriously abducted, and that
eventually she had been brought back to her home by one of the shepherds
known to be in league with Luigi Vampa and his band. She asserted that
she had been carried off to the bandits' haunt by her youthful lover,
who had passed for a peasant lad, but was in reality a nobleman.