lmost
inseparable companions, Esperance after this quarrel studiously avoided
the Viscount Massetti, refraining from even mentioning his name.

Meanwhile at Civita Vecchia another act in the drama of Annunziata
Solara's clouded life had been played. In that city was located a famous
asylum for unfortunate women, founded and managed by a French lady of
enormous wealth and corresponding benevolence, Madame Helena de
Rancogne, the Countess of Monte-Cristo.[6] This lady was untiring in her
efforts to reclaim and rehabilitate the fallen of her sex. She was the
Superior of the Order of Sisters of Refuge, the members of which were
scattered throughout Europe, but made their headquarters at the asylum
in Civita Vecchia, where a sufficient number of them constantly aided
Madame de Rancogne in carrying out her good and philanthropic work.

The Refuge, as the asylum was called, was a vast edifice of gray stone
with a sombre and cloister-like look. Over the huge entrance door on a
tablet of polished metal this sentence was incrusted in conspicuous
letters of black: "Be Not Led to Consider Any Unworthy!" It was an
utterance of the Countess of Monte-Cristo in the past and had been
adopted as the guiding rule and maxim of the Order of Sisters of Refuge.
The interior of the building in no way corresponded with its gloomy,
forbidding outside. Tall, wide windows freely admitted the ardent rays
of the glowing Italian sun, flooding the corridors and apartments with
cheerful light and warmth. Crimson hangings and magnificently wrought
tapestry of fabulous price adorned the walls, while costly and beautiful
statues and paintings, the work of old masters and contemporaneous
artists, added to the attractiveness of the numerous salons and
drawing-rooms. The great refectory and the dormitories possessed charms
of their own, bright colors everywhere greeting the eye and nothing
being allowed that could inspire or promote melancholy moods or painful
thoughts. There was an immense library, to which all the inmates of the
Refuge had free access. It was sumptuously furnished, and the floor was
covered with a gorgeous Turkey carpet, so thick and soft that footsteps
made no sound upon it, while the brilliant figures of tropical flowers
profusely studding it gave the impression of eternal summer. Desks
abundantly supplied with writing materials, tables loaded with the
latest newspapers and periodicals in all the languages of Europe,
luxurious sofas and