Monte-Cristo's Daughter

by Edmund Flagg

"Do not hope for too much, Peppino. I have told you that Paris is different from Rome."

"I have occasion now to know that," rejoined the outlaw, bitterly. "But the power of the Count of Monte-Cristo is the same here as in the campagna!"

"Keep up a stout heart, at all events, my good fellow. We shall soon know what can be done."

"I will keep up a stout heart, Signor Count, for I have perfect faith in you!"

"So be it. Now, my man, what do you know about the plot against the Viscount Massetti?"

"Pardon me, Signor Count," said the Italian, shrewdly, "but I will tell you that when Beppo and myself are at liberty!"

Monte-Cristo smiled at the man's cunning.

"At least," he said, "tell me if you have seen the Viscount recently."

"I will do that, your Excellency. I saw him a very short time ago in Rome and afterwards with Luigi Vampa and Pasquale Solara in the marshy country beyond the Trastavere."