登陆注册
15312000000016

第16章 The Enchanted Violin (1)

Christine Daae, owing to intrigues to which I will return later, did not immediately continue her triumph at the Opera.After the famous gala night, she sang once at the Duchess de Zurich's;but this was the last occasion on which she was heard in private.

She refused, without plausible excuse, to appear at a charity concert to which she had promised her assistance.She acted throughout as though she were no longer the mistress of her own destiny and as though she feared a fresh triumph.

She knew that the Comte de Chagny, to please his brother, had done his best on her behalf with M.Richard; and she wrote to thank him and also to ask him to cease speaking in her favor.Her reason for this curious attitude was never known.Some pretended that it was due to overweening pride; others spoke of her heavenly modesty.

But people on the stage are not so modest as all that; and I think that I shall not be far from the truth if I ascribe her action simply to fear.Yes, I believe that Christine Daae was frightened by what had happened to her.I have a letter of Christine's (it forms part of the Persian's collection), relating to this period, which suggests a feeling of absolute dismay:

"I don't know myself when I sing," writes the poor child.

She showed herself nowhere; and the Vicomte de Chagny tried in vain to meet her.He wrote to her, asking to call upon her, but despaired of receiving a reply when, one morning, she sent him the following note:

MONSIEUR:

I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea to rescue my scarf.I feel that I must write to you to-day, when I am going to Perros, in fulfilment of a sacred duty.

To-morrow is the anniversary of the death of my poor father, whom you knew and who was very fond of you.He is buried there, with his violin, in the graveyard of the little church, at the bottom of the slope where we used to play as children, beside the road where, when we were a little bigger, we said good-by for the last time.

The Vicomte de Chagny hurriedly consulted a railway guide, dressed as quickly as he could, wrote a few lines for his valet to take to his brother and jumped into a cab which brought him to the Gare Montparnasse just in time to miss the morning train.

He spent a dismal day in town and did not recover his spirits until the evening, when he was seated in his compartment in the Brittany express.He read Christine's note over and over again, smelling its perfume, recalling the sweet pictures of his childhood, and spent the rest of that tedious night journey in feverish dreams that began and ended with Christine Daae.Day was breaking when he alighted at Lannion.He hurried to the diligence for Perros-Guirec.

He was the only passenger.He questioned the driver and learned that, on the evening of the previous day, a young lady who looked like a Parisian had gone to Perros and put up at the inn known as the Setting Sun.

The nearer he drew to her, the more fondly he remembered the story of the little Swedish singer.Most of the details are still unknown to the public.

There was once, in a little market-town not far from Upsala, a peasant who lived there with his family, digging the earth during the week and singing in the choir on Sundays.This peasant had a little daughter to whom he taught the musical alphabet before she knew how to read.

Daae's father was a great musician, perhaps without knowing it.

Not a fiddler throughout the length and breadth of Scandinavia played as he did.His reputation was widespread and he was always invited to set the couples dancing at weddings and other festivals.

His wife died when Christine was entering upon her sixth year.

Then the father, who cared only for his daughter and his music, sold his patch of ground and went to Upsala in search of fame and fortune.

He found nothing but poverty.

He returned to the country, wandering from fair to fair, strumming his Scandinavian melodies, while his child, who never left his side, listened to him in esctasy or sang to his playing.

One day, at Ljimby Fair, Professor Valerius heard them and took them to Gothenburg.He maintained that the father was the first violinist in the world and that the daughter had the making of a great artist.Her education and instruction were provided for.

She made rapid progress and charmed everybody with her prettiness, her grace of manner and her genuine eagerness to please.

When Valerius and his wife went to settle in France, they took Daae and Christine with them."Mamma" Valerius treated Christine as her daughter.As for Daae, he began to pine away with homesickness.

He never went out of doors in Paris, but lived in a sort of dream which he kept up with his violin.For hours at a time, he remained locked up in his bedroom with his daughter, fiddling and singing, very, very softly.Sometimes Mamma Valerius would come and listen behind the door, wipe away a tear and go down-stairs again on tiptoe, sighing for her Scandinavian skies.

Daae seemed not to recover his strength until the summer, when the whole family went to stay at Perros-Guirec, in a far-away corner of Brittany, where the sea was of the same color as in his own country.Often he would play his saddest tunes on the beach and pretend that the sea stopped its roaring to listen to them.

And then he induced Mamma Valerius to indulge a queer whim of his.

At the time of the "pardons," or Breton pilgrimages, the village festival and dances, he went off with his fiddle, as in the old days, and was allowed to take his daughter with him for a week.

They gave the smallest hamlets music to last them for a year and slept at night in a barn, refusing a bed at the inn, lying close together on the straw, as when they were so poor in Sweden.

At the same time, they were very neatly dressed, made no collection, refused the halfpence offered them; and the people around could not understand the conduct of this rustic fiddler, who tramped the roads with that pretty child who sang like an angel from Heaven.

They followed them from village to village.

同类推荐
  • Henry VIII and His Court

    Henry VIII and His Court

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 观所缘论释

    观所缘论释

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 镜换杯

    镜换杯

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 伤寒括要

    伤寒括要

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • The Deserted Woman

    The Deserted Woman

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 冷少宠妻已入魔

    冷少宠妻已入魔

    他和她因商业连亲走在一起,在别人眼里她嫁给了他一定会很幸福,但是却没人去倾听她的内心里的故事。她和他的第一个孩子被他无情和狠心的一推,还没有来到这个世界,就已经结束了,他推她的时候,说了一句话“这一世,我冷陌城从现在开始都不想要你出现在我的眼前。”过后,她的眼神里全部都是仇恨和报仇,到了最后,她选择忘记所有的过去,和仇恨,只愿与他一生一世一双人,白头偕老,过后,他对她比任何人好千倍万倍,眼里只有一个她。
  • 农女穿越在田园

    农女穿越在田园

    她,墨菲,大龄剩女一枚,莫名魂穿异世,家里穷的家徒四壁。墨菲痛定思痛滴表示,咱一农村娃难不成还会饿死不成!做生意,没本钱?不怕,咱靠山吃山,靠水吃水!发家致富一把抓!且看乡野村姑,如何带领全家打造属于他们一家,平凡而又幸福美满的田园生活!(本文纯属虚构,请勿模仿。)
  • 罪匿

    罪匿

    无论何等的光明之下,总有暗角,在法律与秩序之下,仍旧有着罪恶在滋生。熙熙攘攘的人群,每个人都戴着面具,我们看到了一张张的笑脸,却无法看清面具背后真实的人格。怪人秦沧偏偏是那个不戴面具的人,并且用自己的天才头脑拆穿一具具的假面。再丑陋的真相也是真相,再美好的假象仍是虚无。是狐狸尾巴,就终究会露出来的。
  • 独步宫廷:傲娇女皇成长记

    独步宫廷:傲娇女皇成长记

    百慕大三角的飞机失事,是巧合还是注定?家族的预言是否就这样变成现实?身在异世的她又是怎样从一个不明世事,毫无心机的小女孩变成了南国神秘的皇女,传闻皇女容貌惊世,智武双全。在他的纠缠下一步一步走向大位……且看隐世家族蓝家少主无底线,无节操的追妻攻略。“女人,爷看你这么辛苦,就勉为其难地被你扑倒吧!”他解了外袍,露出性感结实的大片胸膛。“滚。”她咆哮道。月黑风高,他欺身而上,把她压在塌上笑声痞痞地勾起她的下巴:“身材真不错,不如爷倒贴给你吧!”
  • 曾经的黑色记忆

    曾经的黑色记忆

    看不见的血雨腥风!繁华的大都市落幕后的黑色生活!
  • 兽神纪元

    兽神纪元

    斗罗大陆经过《绝世唐门》时期的一万后,人类凭借着绝对的优势——魂导科技彻底称霸了整个斗罗大陆,并且征服了海洋,发现了两个新大陆。星斗被人类所征服,帝天的孩子——帝天痕背负着魂兽界的希望,来到人类世界!(本文与唐家三少的龙王无关哦,我是斗罗迷所以自己想了个斗罗的剧情哦!希望大家支持!)
  • 重生之攻略女神

    重生之攻略女神

    一朝重生,只想老老实实的追女孩,谁料一个终极女神计划,彻底打乱了苏河的生活。高富帅,家族大少,黑二代,牛逼的男人全是老子的情敌,白富美,学院校花,性感女星,女神们全成了诱惑的小三。如此艰难历程中,苏河喟然长叹:何时才能拿下终极女神啊!
  • 你拿什么改变世界:乔布斯给年轻人的100条成功忠告

    你拿什么改变世界:乔布斯给年轻人的100条成功忠告

    《你拿什么改变世界(乔布斯给年轻人的100条成功忠告)》是一本关于成功励志的通俗读物。史蒂夫·乔布斯,这位亲手打造苹果帝国奇迹的 男人,创造了当代历史上不可思议的商业辉煌。自他离世后,世人都在思考:是什么让乔布斯成为了改变世界的天才呢? 在《你拿什么改变世界(乔布斯给年轻人的100条 成功忠告)》中,作者黄薇收集和整理乔布斯的名言 警句后,归纳总结出乔布斯给年轻人的100个忠告, 将乔布斯跌宕起伏的人生经历精彩地呈现给读者,研究乔布斯的思维,找出他成功的秘诀,用生动的案例和简单的道理给予读者诸多人生启示。乔布斯的经历无法再现,但只要敢于尝试,你也可以成就一番了不起的事业。
  • 怪盗基德之黑羽雪蝶

    怪盗基德之黑羽雪蝶

    一次意外,我们的女主角穿越到了她崇拜的基德的时间,遇见了快斗等人,和快斗擦出了怎样的火花呢?在书里,进来看吧!记得给好评哦!
  • 一骑封神

    一骑封神

    封神之后。申公豹:我不服,我有能力,知道吗?派我塞北海!通天教主:我不服,我出场太少,还没打个痛快!杨戬:我不服,我的功劳大,最后给天庭看门!哪吒:我不服,为什么不多安排我出战!还要听从李靖!姜子牙:我才最不服,就我没封神!一次封神的重新演绎,一次史上的最大脑洞,一次异界创世激战全纪录。对命运不屈之人,就在《一骑封神》。再给所有人一次选择的机会!!