登陆注册
15312000000085

第85章 The End of the Ghost's Love Story (3)

...Nor any other woman...ever, ever!...Ah, you can understand, my happiness was so great, I cried.And I fell at her feet, crying...and I kissedher feet...her little feet...crying.You're crying, too, daroga...and she cried also...the angel cried!..." Erik sobbed aloud and the Persian himself could not retain his tears in the presence of that masked man, who, with his shoulders shaking and his hands clutched at his chest, was moaning with pain and love by turns.

"Yes, daroga...I felt her tears flow on my forehead...on mine, mine!...They were soft...they were sweet!...They trickled under my mask...they mingled with my tears in my eyes...yes...they flowed between my lips....Listen, daroga, listen to what I did....I tore off my mask so as not to lose one of her tears...and she did not run away!...And she did not die!...

She remained alive, weeping over me, with me.We cried together!

I have tasted all the happiness the world can offer!"And Erik fell into a chair, choking for breath:

"Ah, I am not going to die yet...presently I shall...but let me cry!...Listen, daroga...listen to this....While I was at her feet...I heard her say, `Poor, unhappy Erik!'

...AND SHE TOOK MY HAND!...I had become no more, you know, than a poor dog ready to die for her....I mean it, daroga!...

I held in my hand a ring, a plain gold ring which I had given her...which she had lost...and which I had found again...

a wedding-ring, you know....I slipped it into her little hand and said, `There!...Take it!...Take it for you...and him!

...It shall be my wedding-present a present from your poor, unhappy Erik.....I know you love the boy...don't cry any more!

...She asked me, in a very soft voice, what I meant....

Then I made her understand that, where she was concerned, I was only a poor dog, ready to die for her...but that she could marry the young man when she pleased, because she had cried with me and mingled her tears with mine!..."Erik's emotion was so great that he had to tell the Persian not to look at him, for he was choking and must take off his mask.

The daroga went to the window and opened it.His heart was full of pity, but he took care to keep his eyes fixed on the trees in the Tuileries gardens, lest he should see the monster's face.

"I went and released the young man," Erik continued, "and told him to come with me to Christine....They kissed before me in the Louis-Philippe room....Christine had my ring....

I made Christine swear to come back, one night, when I was dead, crossing the lake from the Rue-Scribe side, and bury me in the greatest secrecy with the gold ring, which she was to wear until that moment.

...I told her where she would find my body and what to do with it.

...Then Christine kissed me, for the first time, herself, here, on the forehead--don't look, daroga!--here, on the forehead...on my forehead, mine--don't look, daroga!--and they went off together.

...Christine had stopped crying....I alone cried....Daroga, daroga, if Christine keeps her promise, she will come back soon!..."The Persian asked him no questions.He was quite reassured as to the fate of Raoul Chagny and Christine Daae; no one could have doubted the word of the weeping Erik that night.

The monster resumed his mask and collected his strength to leave the daroga.He told him that, when he felt his end to be very near at hand, he would send him, in gratitude for the kindness which the Persian had once shown him, that which he held dearest in the world: all Christine Daae's papers, which she had written for Raoul's benefit and left with Erik, together with a few objects belonging to her, such as a pair of gloves, a shoe-buckle and two pocket-handkerchiefs.In reply to the Persian's questions, Erik told him that the two young people, at soon as they found themselves free, had resolved to go and look for a priest in some lonely spot where they could hide their happiness and that, with this object in view, they had started from "the northern railway station of the world." Lastly, Erik relied on the Persian, as soon as he received the promised relics and papers, to inform the young couple of his death and to advertise it in the EPOQUE.

That was all.The Persian saw Erik to the door of his flat, and Darius helped him down to the street.A cab was waiting for him.

Erik stepped in; and the Persian, who had gone back to the window, heard him say to the driver:

"Go to the Opera."

And the cab drove off into the night.

The Persian had seen the poor, unfortunate Erik for the last time.

Three weeks later, the Epoque published this advertisement:

"Erik is dead."

Epilogue.

I have now told the singular, but veracious story of the Opera ghost.

As I declared on the first page of this work, it is no longer possible to deny that Erik really lived.There are to-day so many proofs of his existence within the reach of everybody that we can follow Erik's actions logically through the whole tragedy of the Chagnys.

There is no need to repeat here how greatly the case excited the capital.

The kidnapping of the artist, the death of the Comte de Chagny under such exceptional conditions, the disappearance of his brother, the drugging of the gas-man at the Opera and of his two assistants:

同类推荐
  • 本经逢原

    本经逢原

    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。
  • 鼎镌国朝名公神断详刑公案

    鼎镌国朝名公神断详刑公案

    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。
  • MARTIN EDEN

    MARTIN EDEN

    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。
  • Poor Miss Finch

    Poor Miss Finch

    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。
  • Green Mansions

    Green Mansions

    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
  • 金刚怒目

    金刚怒目

    乡村少年,垂死之际,得到神秘经文,本应在这个世界上闯出一番天地,怎料天有不测风云,葬身于仇家寻仇之祸,又因各种机缘巧合之下得意重获新生,自身功法获得突破。注:本文慢热型一本金刚经能造就一代地球的至尊!一本金刚经同样也能造就一个宇宙中的无上霸主!
  • 杀手公主的古代生活

    杀手公主的古代生活

    她们是现代的王牌特工,从小被组织暗枭选中并带回去接受了各种的地狱式训练。但是,因为暗枭的追杀,使她们遇上她们生命中最重要的人,久经波折的他们又能否顺利的在一起呢!(本文的最后结局可能是虐文,如果不喜欢看虐文的读者就不要加到书架了。谢谢!)
  • 哈佛教授给学生讲述的200个心理健康故事

    哈佛教授给学生讲述的200个心理健康故事

    本书将哈佛教授的心理课程汇集成300个极富思考意义的小故事,这些故事包含了自我认知、自我控制、自我激励等方面,可以说与我们每个人的生活都息息相关。在每个故事后面,还附上了鞭辟入里、意味深长的精彩点评,它们从智慧的高度诠释了这些优美故事的现实意义所在,以小见大、抛砖引玉。
  • 武破人性

    武破人性

    在这个大路上有九大门派,三大宗教,其中柳家是九大门派的老大,不知什么原因柳家在一夜之间,全是死完了,。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。。
  • 倾城绝舞

    倾城绝舞

    最后一支舞,让人间万事万物都为之迷醉,那是真正的倾国倾城。而,他,伤心欲绝,却在那个地方,又一次的相遇了。——致白衣的他,红衣的她
  • 倾笑九生:嗜血妖后

    倾笑九生:嗜血妖后

    王牌特工一朝穿越,成为了人人欺凌的废材公主,她的臭名方圆万里内谁人不知,谁人不晓。第一次遇见他,因为一点小矛盾相识了;第二次遇见他,靠在树梢,一双狭长而有慵懒的凤眼片刻不离地望着她;第三次见到他,是临进死亡;第四次见到他,他与她之间,已拥有了世间最浪漫的邂逅。。。或许,不知不觉中,他已爱上了她,她也爱上了他,在最美好的青春中遇见最美好的他,他的理想,或许只是过简简单单的生活,而她的理想,却是站在世界的顶端,傲看风云。他愿成为她最坚强的后盾,陪伴她成长,看她与他如何成为傲看世界的强者。
  • 终极荒神

    终极荒神

    何邪带牛X的“荒神系统”穿越到大荒世界,开始了自认为牛X的打怪升级人生。何邪说:“荒神系统”,既然带个神字,那就肯定是要成神滴,那些什么剑皇,法圣通通给少爷我靠边站。何邪说:打怪升级,杀妖升级,杀神不但升级还爆神格,太划算了。剑皇:何邪少爷,小的有万年成精人参一株,吃了之后保准功力大增。何邪:人参有什么好吃的?既然已经成精,那就杀了升级吧。法圣:何邪少爷,小的捉到邪魅妖女一个,供奉给您当侍女吧。何邪:少爷我已经有侍女了。妖女妖邪太妖媚?通通杀了升级。…………PS:新人新书,求收藏求推荐!要是觉得写得不好可以骂作者莫问候家人。
  • 画心难

    画心难

    世间就是这样不公平,一个男子爱许多的人就是风流多情,一个女子不从一而终就是妖媚放荡,话语权永远在男人身上,女子就是附属品。在男子眼里有的女子适合做妻子,相夫教子;有的女子适合做情人,谈情说爱;有的女子适合做女神,永存心中。女子是世间如此美好的精灵,因为男人,因为男人的自私成为魔鬼。
  • 福妻驾到

    福妻驾到

    现代饭店彪悍老板娘魂穿古代。不分是非的极品婆婆?三年未归生死不明的丈夫?心狠手辣的阴毒亲戚?贪婪而好色的地主老财?吃上顿没下顿的贫困宭境?不怕不怕,神仙相助,一技在手,天下我有!且看现代张悦娘,如何身带福气玩转古代,开面馆、收小弟、左纳财富,右傍美男,共绘幸福生活大好蓝图!!!!快本新书《天媒地聘》已经上架开始销售,只要3.99元即可将整本书抱回家,你还等什么哪,赶紧点击下面的直通车,享受乐乐精心为您准备的美食盛宴吧!)
  • 拾核官

    拾核官

    时代变迁,人类在其好战天性的驱使下一次又一次发动了自相残杀的战争。国际局势也在这种情况下空前紧张,世界各地局部热战时有发生,各个核武大国也逐步迈开了《不扩散核武器条约》这条禁忌的枷锁,以核武器为主导的新型大规模杀伤性武器被不断投入战场。世界各地遭受核打击的国家数量急剧增加。正是在这种情况下,核战场上诞生了一股新的力量——拾核官。他们在政府的管理下操纵着远超正常人类的力量改变着战局,改变着世界局势,一个新的时代就此到来。【本书在超能力的框架下以写实为主,暗黑风格较强。】