"Of course, we can take you to him, signor," answered the guide; "but you had best avoid him; the sight of the wretched Massetti will drive your lady out of her wits!"
At the name Massetti both Maximilian and Valentine started; they glanced at each other and at the man who had spoken, thinking that they had not heard aright.
"Massetti!" cried M. Morrel, when his astonishment permitted him to find words. "Did you say Massetti?"
"Yes, signor, I said Massetti. The maniac is old Count Massetti's disowned and disinherited son!"
"What! The Viscount Giovanni?"
"The same, signor!"
"Oh! this is dreadful, dreadful, Maximilian!" whispered Valentine, clinging still closer to her husband.
"It is, indeed, dreadful; doubly so because entirely unexpected," said M. Morrel. "But I must see young Massetti—it was, no doubt, some mysterious influence, some indescribable magnetic power, operating between us, that made me wish to see this man, this maniac, as soon as he was mentioned!—I must see him and at once!"
As the guides possessed but a very slight knowledge of the French language, in which the dialogue between the husband and wife had been carried on, they failed to grasp the full import of the brief conversation; they, however, understood that their patrons were in some inexplicable way interested in the maniac of the Colosseum and appalled by the sudden discovery of his identity. The situation puzzled and dissatisfied them.
After thinking for an instant, Maximilian said to his wife: