"Signor Count," said he, "I had long suspected that something was on the carpet between Vampa and old Solara. The moody and morose shepherd did not at first come to the bandits' haunt, but in response to a signal he used, a peculiar vibrating whistle, the chief would go out alone and meet him. This signal and Vampa's actions aroused my curiosity; more than once I followed the chief and, securely hidden behind a tree or a rock, witnessed the secret meetings, overhearing portions of the conversation. Annunziata Solara was frequently mentioned, and the father seemed to be endeavouring to drive a hard bargain with Vampa. At last one night they came to an understanding. I heard the chief agree to pay old Pasquale an enormous sum of money upon the delivery of Annunziata into his hands, and then I realized that the nefarious sale had been concluded. It was decided that the ill-fated girl should be passed over to Vampa at the first opportunity, and that opportunity came when the Viscount Massetti and your son Espérance were domiciled at the isolated cabin in the forest.
"I was on the alert and when, after assuring himself of the arrival of the two young men at his hut, old Pasquale sought the bandits' rendezvous and sounded his vibrating signal, I heard it. Stealthily following Vampa, I concealed myself as I had done on previous occasions. I was now thoroughly familiar with the details of the base transaction in progress between the precious pair and could readily comprehend even their most obscure and guarded allusions. Old Solara informed the chief that the young men had arrived, proposing that Vampa should abduct Annunziata at the earliest possible moment, so arranging matters that suspicion would fall upon the Viscount Massetti. This the chief agreed to do. The shepherd was to keep him posted, and the abduction was to take place when circumstances were best calculated to promote the success of all the phases of the villainous plot. With this understanding the conspirators separated.
"Fate sided with old Pasquale and Vampa. His wound kept the Viscount at the cabin and the fair Annunziata nursed him. He had become smitten with her beauty the day he met her in the Piazza del Popolo. Intimate association with her intensified her influence over him, and when he had been in the cabin nearly a week and convalescence had begun he made violent love to her, even going so far as to ask her to fly with him. Espérance divined his friend's intentions and, knowing that Massetti could not marry the girl, interposed to save her. The result was a quarrel and your son challenged the Viscount to fight him. The challenge was instantly accepted and it was arranged that the duel should occur on the following morning.
"Faithful to his promise to Vampa, old Solara, while pretending to be absent from home, lurked in the vicinity and kept track of all that was going on. He was hidden beneath the open window when Massetti or Tonio, as he called himself, for both the Viscount and Espérance were passing under assumed names, proposed flight to his daughter. Instantly he hastened to the brigand chief, who had been prowling in the neighborhood of the hut all day, and gleefully communicated to him what he had heard. It was immediately decided that the time for the abduction had come and preparations were made to carry off Annunziata that very night. Vampa wrote a criminating letter to the girl purporting to come from Massetti, and old Solara, stealing unobserved into the hut, placed it beneath his daughter's work-box on her table where she afterwards found it. It was not for a moment supposed that the girl would consent to fly with the Viscount, for though gay and light-hearted she was pure and innocent; the note was simply intended to fill Annunziata's mind, after the abduction, with the idea that Massetti was her abductor."
"What shrewd, far-seeing villainy!" muttered Monte-Cristo, between his teeth.
"That night there was no moon," continued Peppino, "and, after all the inmates of the cabin had retired to rest, old Pasquale waited outside with a torch while Vampa made his way to Annunziata's chamber, tore her from her couch and carried her to the forest, preventing her from giving the alarm by placing his hand over her mouth. He was masked and the shepherd kept at such a distance that it was utterly impossible for his daughter to recognize him. As Vampa ran through the forest with his burden, he struck his arm against a tree and the pain caused him to take his hand for a second from Annunziata's mouth. The poor girl profited by this opportunity to scream and her cry brought first her brother, then the Viscount and then Espérance to her aid.
"The brother on reaching Vampa attacked him fiercely. Dropping the girl, who stood rooted to the spot, the chief drew a pistol and fired at his assailant. The latter was hit and staggered back, the blood gushing from his wound. Somehow during the struggle Vampa became unmasked and, in the prevailing obscurity, Annunziata naturally imagined that the face suddenly uncovered and as quickly masked again was that of her suitor, the so-called Tonio. Having disposed of the brother, who afterwards ran back towards the cabin, met Espérance, rushed into his arms and then fell to the ground where he died, the brigand chief seized Annunziata, who meanwhile had swooned, and resumed his flight through the forest. Hearing the sound of further pursuit, Vampa paused in dismay and listened. Three persons seemed to be rapidly approaching. The chief thereupon concealed the unconscious girl behind a huge fragment of rock and threw himself flat upon the ground, hoping thus to escape observation. As he did so he saw the glare of old Solara's torch. It flashed full in the face of a peasant, a perfect stranger, who had heard Annunziata's cry and come to the rescue. The shepherd had a knife in one hand; he instantly cast away his torch and closed in desperate conflict with the new comer. At that moment the Viscount came upon the scene, moving as if to take the part of the stranger. Vampa leaped up, grasped him by the throat and, under the threat of instant death if he refused, forced him to take an oath of silence in regard to the events of the night. Massetti was so bewildered that he scarcely knew what he was doing. No sooner had he taken the oath than Vampa treacherously dealt him a crushing blow that sent him reeling to the ground, where he lay motionless and unconscious. Then the chief again threw himself upon the soil, springing up once more to face Espérance. The latter aimed a pistol at him, but he whirled it from his hand. Then the young man struck fiercely at him, but Vampa dodged the blow and his adversary fell forward from his own impetus on a thick growth of moss beside Massetti's prostrate form. Taking prompt advantage of his opportunity, the chief secured possession of the yet unconscious Annunziata and this time succeeded in bearing her in triumph to a hut he had provided for her reception."
Peppino then proceeded to relate what the reader has already learned from Annunziata's pitiful recital to Mme. de Rancogne in the Refuge at Civita Vecchia. When he had concluded, he glanced at his auditor and said:
"Are you satisfied, Signor Count?"