aughter, with Ali at a short distance from them,
stood closely watching the fast disappearing island. The Count was more
agitated and paler than he had yet been. Nervous tremors shook his frame
and his teeth were firmly clenched. The usually impassible countenance
of the faithful Nubian mute wore an expression of blank horror. Zuleika
gazed at her father and then at the servant. She knew not what to make
of their strange, inexplicable emotion. Placing her hand upon the
Count's shoulder, she was about to speak to him, to endeavor to calm his
agitation, when suddenly there was a loud explosion on the Isle of
Monte-Cristo and a huge column of black smoke shot up into the air.

The Count covered his face with his hands as if to shut out the sight.
Ali fell prostrate upon the deck, pressing his contorted visage against
his master's feet.

"What was that, oh! father, what was that?" cried Zuleika, clinging to
the Count in wild alarm.

"The subterranean palace of the Isle of Monte-Cristo is no more!" he
replied, sadly. "At my command it replaced with its magnificence the
rude and shapeless grottoes, at my command it has perished!"

As he spoke the rocky island was gradually lost to view in the distance,
and the Haydee sped over the waves of the Mediterranean like some
glorious water-fowl in full flight.

CHAPTER XXI.

ZULEIKA LEARNS THE TRUTH.

Nothing occurred to impede the progress of the Haydee and, after a rapid
and pleasant voyage, the beautiful craft cast anchor in the harbor of
Civita Vecchia, the principal seaport city of the Pontifical States,
which owes its origin to the Emperor Trajan. The strict quarantine
regulations of the place caused a brief delay, which Monte-Cristo and
Zuleika bore with ill-concealed impatience, but the period required by
law for purification at length expired and the travelers were accorded
official permission to proceed to Rome. Of this they immediately availed
themselves and in a short time were in the Eternal City comfortably
installed in the best apartments the Hotel de France afforded.

The Count's first care was to send his card to M. and Mme. Morrel, who
at once hastened to his parlor, where the most cordial greetings were
exchanged. That Monte-Cristo should be in Rome did not in the slightest
degree astonish Maximilian and Valentine, who were fully aware of his
habit of suddenly making his appearance in unexpected spots apparently
without motive, but the presence of