登陆注册
15312000000066

第66章 In the Cellars of the Opera (5)

"If I am not mistaken, this is a wall that might easily belong to the house on the lake."He was striking a partition-wall of the "tub," and perhaps it would be as well for the reader to know how the bottom and the partition-walls of the tub were built.In order to prevent the water surrounding the building-operations from remaining in immediate contact with the walls supporting the whole of the theatrical machinery, the architect was obliged to build a double case in every direction.

The work of constructing this double case took a whole year.

It was the wall of the first inner case that the Persian struck when speaking to Raoul of the house on the lake.To any one understanding the architecture of the edifice, the Persian's action would seem to indicate that Erik's mysterious house had been built in the double case, formed of a thick wall constructed as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall, a tremendous layer of cement and another wall several yards in thickness.

At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against the wall and listened eagerly.But he heard nothing...nothing...except distant steps.

The Persian darkened his lantern again.

"Look out!" he said."Keep your hand up! And silence! For we shall try another way of getting in."And he led him to the little staircase by which they had come down lately.

They went up, stopping at each step, peering into the darkness and the silence, till they came to the third cellar.Here the Persian motioned to Raoul to go on his knees; and, in this way, crawling on both knees and one hand--for the other hand was held in the position indicated--they reached the end wall.

Against this wall stood a large discarded scene from the ROI DE LAHORE.

Close to this scene was a set piece.Between the scene and the set piece there was just room for a body...for a body which one day was found hanging there.The body of Joseph Buquet.

The Persian, still kneeling, stopped and listened.For a moment, he seemed to hesitate and looked at Raoul; then he turned his eyes upward, toward the second cellar, which sent down the faint glimmer of a lantern, through a cranny between two boards.

This glimmer seemed to trouble the Persian.

At last, he tossed his head and made up his mind to act.He slipped between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, with Raoul close upon his heels.With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall.

Raoul saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he had pressed against the wall in Christine's dressing-room.Then a stone gave way, leaving a hole in the wall.

This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket and made a sign to Raoul to do as he did.He cocked the pistol.

And, resolutely, still on his knees, he wiggled through the hole in the wall.Raoul, who had wished to pass first, had to be content to follow him.

The hole was very narrow.The Persian stopped almost at once.

Raoul heard him feeling the stones around him.Then the Persian took out his dark lantern again, stooped forward, examined something beneath him and immediately extinguished his Iantern.Raoul heard him say, in a whisper:

"We shall have to drop a few yards, without making a noise;take off your boots."

The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul.

"Put them outside the wall," he said."We shall find them there when we leave."[7]

----

[7] These two pairs of boots, which were placed, according to the Persian's papers, just between the set piece and the scene from the ROI DE LAHORE, on the spot where Joseph Buquet was found hanging, were never discovered.

They must have been taken by some stage-carpenter or "door-shutter."He crawled a little farther on his knees, then turned right round and said:

"I am going to hang by my hands from the edge of the stone and let myself drop INTO HIS HOUSE.You must do exactly the same.

Do not be afraid.I will catch you in my arms."Raoul soon heard a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall of the Persian, and then dropped down.

He felt himself clasped in the Persian's arms.

"Hush!" said the Persian.

And they stood motionless, listening.

The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible.

Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern again, turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole through which they had come, and failing to find it:

"Oh!" he said."The stone has closed of itself!"And the light of the lantern swept down the wall and over the floor.

The Persian stooped and picked up something, a sort of cord, which he examined for a second and flung away with horror.

"The Punjab lasso!" he muttered.

"What is it?" asked Raoul.

The Persian shivered."It might very well be the rope by which the man was hanged, and which was looked for so long."And, suddenly seized with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk of his lantern over the walls.In this way, he lit up a curious thing:

the trunk of a tree, which seemed still quite alive, with its leaves;and the branches of that tree ran right up the walls and disappeared in the ceiling.

Because of the smallness of the luminous disk, it was difficult at first to make out the appearance of things: they saw a corner of a branch...and a leaf...and another leaf...and, next to it, nothing at all, nothing but the ray of light that seemed to reflect itself....Raoul passed his hand over that nothing, over that reflection.

"Hullo!" he said."The wall is a looking-glass!""Yes, a looking-glass!" said the Persian, in a tone of deep emotion.

And, passing the hand that held the pistol over his moist forehead, he added, "We have dropped into the torture-chamber!"What the Persian knew of this torture-chamber and what there befell him and his companion shall be told in his own words, as set down in a manuscript which he left behind him, and which I copy VERBATIM.

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 荒漠屠夫

    荒漠屠夫

    镇天海域,仙气氤氲,月色朦胧...静谧海面漂浮成千上万棺材,一少年从其中一口爬出.........他大惊,我不是已经死了吗?我怎么会在这?还有我胸前奇怪的镜子是什么?
  • 恶魔:你到底想怎样

    恶魔:你到底想怎样

    她多愁善感,却绝不悲伤。她善良,所以被人欺。她单纯,所以被人骗,相信他对她好是因为他爱她,却不知她只是另一个女人的影子。最后她深知了前任是多么强大。她是一只麻雀,却有自己的傲娇。哎?怎么伤感?两年后她带伤回来,身旁站着另外一个耀眼的男子,而她却早已华服璀璨,笑颜如花!她回来了!!看她如何斗前任,整小三,虐顶包!
  • 花千骨续写

    花千骨续写

    相信看过花千骨的原著党们都深深被虐到了吧?酒酒现在续写,有虐有甜,希望大家会喜欢哦好了,废话不多说,戳进来吧~
  • 苏蓠落

    苏蓠落

    大陆之上,城池纷争。她为五大杀手之一,却天真善良,心地善良,从未杀过一人。世间最强者、最权者为她倾倒,世间之中,独爱她一人。她可以为最尊者。然而,她却深陷困境之中,原来一切都只是一场早已经预谋已久的阴谋。当与最爱的他反目成仇之时;当自己周围之人一一消亡之时;当自己绝望之际,世间唯独只有他一人不离不弃,而她心中却是......她多希望一切都在阴谋刚开始的时候,一切都是那么的美好。深陷绝境,失去一切的她,面对他,又将是如何抉择......是血杀,还是另一种......
  • 健桥风云录

    健桥风云录

    不一样的重生,不一样的回归!这种重生的方式和形式将是独一无二的!
  • 逆天狂暴升级

    逆天狂暴升级

    游戏玩家黄小明玩游戏穿越了,手持逆天狂暴系统,升级杀怪。一言不合就开战。老子的目标只有一个:最强
  • 相思谋:妃常难娶

    相思谋:妃常难娶

    某日某王府张灯结彩,婚礼进行时,突然不知从哪冒出来一个小孩,对着新郎道:“爹爹,今天您的大婚之喜,娘亲让我来还一样东西。”说完提着手中的玉佩在新郎面前晃悠。此话一出,一府宾客哗然,然当大家看清这小孩与新郎如一个模子刻出来的面容时,顿时石化。此时某屋顶,一个绝色女子不耐烦的声音响起:“儿子,事情办完了我们走,别在那磨矶,耽误时间。”新郎一看屋顶上的女子,当下怒火攻心,扔下新娘就往女子所在的方向扑去,吼道:“女人,你给本王站住。”一场爱与被爱的追逐正式开始、、、、、、、
  • 深深爱上御

    深深爱上御

    从大学到社会,准确说是从小吧,俩人早已被命运绑在了一起。(第一次写,不喜勿喷,情节虚构。作者词穷。)具体内容大家看正文吧!
  • 乐破苍穹

    乐破苍穹

    简介没有魔法,没有斗气,也没有修真,这是一个音乐人掌控天地之力的世界!清箫声动,肃杀破江河。琴瑟悠扬,一曲变长天。仗歌而行,觅苍穹音,踏万族路,我要这天,响彻吾乐,我要这地,明白吾心。
  • 秦氏小少爷

    秦氏小少爷

    秦始皇有人说他是皇者也有人说他是昏君但所有人都承认他的霸气。且让我们看看秦氏后人如何在21世纪成长为一代帝皇