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 protégée. Zuleika, Valentine, M. Morrel and Espérance 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 coming, holding their breath in fear and expectation. As for Vampa, he could hardly be kept still; his fingers worked nervously as if he desired to strangle the dying witness, and he glanced at him with the flashing eyes of a ferocious tiger brought to bay.
Old Pasquale continued, amid the deepest silence:
"I do not seek to shield myself. Vampa is guilty both of the abduction and of the plot to ruin the Viscount Massetti, but I was his tempter and to me he owes his crime! However, with the murder of my son Lorenzo I had nothing to do—the chief alone is responsible for that! But I tempted him with the beauty of my poor daughter Annunziata! Greedy for gold I sold her to him! The abduction was proposed by me and executed by him! The plan to throw young Massetti under suspicion also originated with me, Vampa and myself carrying it out together. In forming the plan I was actuated by a desire to obtain vengeance upon old Count Massetti for a wrong he did me in the past! Now, your Eminence, you know the whole black history!"
Pasquale Solara ceased and sank back into the arms of the two soldiers who were supporting him, totally overcome by the terrible exertions he had made in delivering his crushing testimony, and lay there a helpless, quivering mass. As they were about to remove him from the witness stand a sudden thought occurred to him, and with a herculean effort he straightened himself up, making a sign to the Court that he had something further to communicate.
"Speak, witness," said Cardinal Monti, in response to this sign.
"Your Eminence," resumed the shepherd, slowly and painfully, "I wish to say yet another word. I received my death wound at the hands of the Viscount Massetti!"
There was a quick stir among those who heard this unexpected accusation and a score of eyes, including those of Cardinal Monti and his associates on the judicial bench, were instantly fixed upon the young Italian, who glanced at Monte-Cristo and the lawyers with a look of consternation. The Count was about to address the Court in explanation, when old Solara, who had paused to recover breath, added: