登陆注册
15312000000083

第83章 The End of the Ghost's Love Story (1)

The previous chapter marks the conclusion of the written narrative which the Persian left behind him.

Notwithstanding the horrors of a situation which seemed definitely to abandon them to their deaths, M.de Chagny and his companion were saved by the sublime devotion of Christine Daae.And Ihad the rest of the story from the lips of the daroga himself.

When I went to see him, he was still living in his little flat in the Rue de Rivoli, opposite the Tuileries.He was very ill, and it required all my ardor as an historian pledged to the truth to persuade him to live the incredible tragedy over again for my benefit.

His faithful old servant Darius showed me in to him.The daroga received me at a window overlooking the garden of the Tuileries.

He still had his magnificent eyes, but his poor face looked very worn.

He had shaved the whole of his head, which was usually covered with an astrakhan cap; he was dressed in a long, plain coat and amused himself by unconsciously twisting his thumbs inside the sleeves;but his mind was quite clear, and he told me his story with perfect lucidity.

It seems that, when he opened his eyes, the daroga found himself lying on a bed.M.de Chagny was on a sofa, beside the wardrobe.

An angel and a devil were watching over them.

After the deceptions and illusions of the torture-chamber, the precision of the details of that quiet little middle-class room seemed to have been invented for the express purpose of puzzling the mind of the mortal rash enough to stray into that abode of living nightmare.

The wooden bedstead, the waxed mahogany chairs, the chest of drawers, those brasses, the little square antimacassars carefully placed on the backs of the chairs, the clock on the mantelpiece and the harmless-looking ebony caskets at either end, lastly, the whatnot filled with shells, with red pin-cushions, with mother-of-pearl boats and an enormous ostrich-egg, the whole discreetly lighted by a shaded lamp standing on a small round table: this collection of ugly, peaceable, reasonable furniture, AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OPERA CELLARS, bewildered the imagination more than all the late fantastic happenings.

And the figure of the masked man seemed all the more formidable in this old-fashioned, neat and trim little frame.It bent down over the Persian and said, in his ear:

"Are you better, daroga?...You are looking at my furniture?...

It is all that I have left of my poor unhappy mother."Christine Daae did not say a word: she moved about noiselessly, like a sister of charity, who had taken a vow of silence.

She brought a cup of cordial, or of hot tea, he did not remember which.

The man in the mask took it from her hands and gave it to the Persian.

M.de Chagny was still sleeping.

Erik poured a drop of rum into the daroga's cup and, pointing to the viscount, said:

"He came to himself long before we knew if you were still alive, daroga.He is quite well.He is asleep.We must not wake him."Erik left the room for a moment, and the Persian raised himself on his elbow, looked around him and saw Christine Daae sitting by the fireside.He spoke to her, called her, but he was still very weak and fell back on his pillow.Christine came to him, laid her hand on his forehead and went away again.

And the Persian remembered that, as she went, she did not give a glance at M.de Chagny, who, it is true, was sleeping peacefully;and she sat down again in her chair by the chimney-corner, silent as a sister of charity who had taken a vow of silence.

Erik returned with some little bottles which he placed on the mantelpiece.And, again in a whisper, so as not to wake M.de Chagny, he said to the Persian, after sitting down and feeling his pulse:

"You are now saved, both of you.And soon I shall take you up to the surface of the earth, TO PLEASE MY WIFE."Thereupon he rose, without any further explanation, and disappeared once more.

The Persian now looked at Christine's quiet profile under the lamp.

She was reading a tiny book, with gilt edges, like a religious book.

There are editions of THE IMITATION that look like that.The Persian still had in his ears the natural tone in which the other had said, "to please my wife." Very gently, he called her again; but Christine was wrapped up in her book and did not hear him.

Erik returned, mixed the daroga a draft and advised him not to speak to "his wife" again nor to any one, BECAUSE IT MIGHT BE VERY DANGEROUSTO EVERYBODY'S HEALTH.

Eventually, the Persian fell asleep, like M.de Chagny, and did not wake until he was in his own room, nursed by his faithful Darius, who told him that, on the night before, he was found propped against the door of his flat, where he had been brought by a stranger, who rang the bell before going away.

As soon as the daroga recovered his strength and his wits, he sent to Count Philippe's house to inquire after the viscount's health.

The answer was that the young man had not been seen and that Count Philippe was dead.His body was found on the bank of the Opera lake, on the Rue-Scribe side.The Persian remembered the requiem mass which he had heard from behind the wall of the torture-chamber, and had no doubt concerning the crime and the criminal.

Knowing Erik as he did, he easily reconstructed the tragedy.

Thinking that his brother had run away with Christine Daae, Philippe had dashed in pursuit of him along the Brussels Road, where he knew that everything was prepared for the elopement.

Failing to find the pair, he hurried back to the Opera, remembered Raoul's strange confidence about his fantastic rival and learned that the viscount had made every effort to enter the cellars of the theater and that he had disappeared, leaving his hat in the prima donna's dressing-room beside an empty pistol-case.And the count, who no longer entertained any doubt of his brother's madness, in his turn darted into that infernal underground maze.This was enough, in the Persian's eyes, to explain the discovery of the Comte de Chagny's corpse on the shore of the lake, where the siren, Erik's siren, kept watch.

同类推荐
  • Wild Wales

    Wild Wales

    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。
  • 大乘顶王经

    大乘顶王经

    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。
  • 太上虚皇保生神咒经

    太上虚皇保生神咒经

    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。
  • 云门匡真禅师广录

    云门匡真禅师广录

    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。
  • 武编

    武编

    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
  • 我曾暗恋你,想到就心酸

    我曾暗恋你,想到就心酸

    “愿我们永远都是朋友,让所有最美好的时光保留在这3年吧!”毕业的前夕。童沐鼓起了勇气说了3年以来闷在心里的话:“苏楠,我喜欢你!”苏楠:“童沐,对不起,我们不合适。”就这么一句话,让童沐在高考后消失了4年。
  • 狂武破苍穹

    狂武破苍穹

    热血少年,独闯四大圣地,横渡无尽汪洋,苦寻武道极限!激情燃烧的岁月,一路成长,破除宇内魔障!狂霸少年,执刀纵横天下,匹马快意恩仇,笑尽天下英雄,狂霸八荒六合!九州动荡,我主沉浮!天既不存,怒破苍穹!
  • 六界情缘之肇阳似锦

    六界情缘之肇阳似锦

    她,亡国小公主,身世惹怜,成熟坚强,一心欲求仙道。漫漫修仙路,她开始迷惘,开始质疑。修仙是为入神,可睥睨众生的神域是否当真担得起众界之尊往?他,北宪派仙尊,一身青衣,沉默寡言,此世傲睨仙界。作为北宪派现世资历最长者,他的存在又因何而起?六界众生,皆难逃一劫,是为情劫。劫由缘起,又作情缘。渡劫易,忘情难。一番情缘纠葛之后,她的真实身份逐渐显露,更多谜底也渐渐浮出,她竟不能被昔日亲人般的同门所容下,那当初单纯而朴实的念想又是否能够顺遂如意?
  • BOSS来袭:漓宝乖乖放松点

    BOSS来袭:漓宝乖乖放松点

    三年前,因醉了酒,他上了她。醒来时,身边的人儿,早已没了踪影。三年后,他又遇见了她。他是国内龙头,却爱上了她一个普通市民。他拿她弟弟威胁,她只得随了他的愿,和他在一起。但突然出现一个小鬼,让他堂堂莫少,费劲了心……
  • 水晶丛林

    水晶丛林

    天元大陆上生活着人类,精灵,狼人,妖怪......许多年来,这里的光明力量与黑暗势力一直在斗争,六个世纪前,象征着光明的人类和精灵等等组成的联军把黑暗势力的狼人,妖怪等等打退到了黑暗森林之中,可是,在天元大陆经过了六个世纪的平静之后,黑暗森林中的黑暗势力魔性复发,打乱了天元大陆上的平静,而一切的终结,都在于找到传说中的水晶丛林里面的一块神奇的水晶石......
  • 嗜妻如命:盛宠至尊魔妃

    嗜妻如命:盛宠至尊魔妃

    二十一世纪,她是佣兵第一人,抬手间翻云覆雨!惨死过后,她成为第一宗门门主,却惨遭背叛,手下心腹无一幸免!再度重生,第三次的生命她决定步步为营,狠辣无双!去你的人心本善温柔贤良,她要的是天上地下,唯我独尊!最没用的废物?废柴崛起,就是这么猖狂桀骜,一鸣惊人!最下贱的佣兵?她偏要一手撑天,让所有人匍匐在她脚下!谁知她的日子过得正快活,一妖孽却是找上门来。“心肝宝贝,当年你欠下的人情,不如就肉偿吧?”衣衫半解,人前冷酷的妖孽却是满面带笑,欺身上前。“报姓名报身家,不要脸的见多了,却没见过你这么不要脸的,要肉偿?你还不够格!”“这天上地下,你想要的我都亲手送到你面前,哪怕你是要逆转这乾坤,我也奉陪!”
  • 幼科证治准绳

    幼科证治准绳

    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。
  • 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、、、、、、、
  • 睡服殿下:重生不为后

    睡服殿下:重生不为后

    她从没想过自己会重生,而且还是被抛弃的一国皇后。但一想到接下来要心酸宫斗的日子,她就一把火烧了住着的冷宫,带着随身丫头到宫外去闯荡闯荡……做镖师,开客栈,没事还能混个山贼头目当当……只是帝君前任一直紧追不放,她就只有先下手为强。却不想,不小心掉进了另一个温柔陷阱……--情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 轮回天之道

    轮回天之道

    生与死,轮回不止!万物皆生而我独死。众生具灭然我又生。轮回无心,天道尚存。我林微便不信这天道运转,无情无义。我奉献一生,却换来众叛亲离。我保护一切,却得来万人唾弃。我心灰意冷,却依旧要被你们斩尽杀绝。如天道如此,那我便和天斗!若世道如此,那我便灭这凡间!反正这世间之上万事万物轮回变迁,终有存在,那便让我来改变这恶俗低劣的一切!我是林微,出自道门。我是林微,屠戮一切。我是林微,弑师反叛。我是林微,为道,为魔,曾为一切!然后轮回一转,嗜血之后,我,究竟是谁?那山间的白衣,可还能留住我那脆弱的本心?我是林微,我,是谁?