plied one of the men, glancing about him uneasily.

"But where is he? Can you take us to him?" persisted Maximilian.

The cicerones looked at each other in amazement; the young soldier's
questions startled them. Valentine was not less amazed and startled than
the guides; she stared at her husband, speechless at the strange
interest he displayed in this miserable outcast.

"Can you take us to him?" repeated Maximilian.

"Signor," said the guide belonging to the hotel, "you are jesting!"

"I am not jesting, I am in earnest," said M. Morrel. "Answer my
question."

"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:

"I will instruct the guide from the hotel to conduct you back to our
apartments. It is best that I should meet poor Massetti alone; seeing
the wretched man in his present terrible condition would certainly shock
and unnerve you."

Valentine gazed pleadingly into her husband's face. All her fear had
left her. She was calm now and resolved. She had proposed the trip