Fantôme de l'Opéra. English, Page 25

  Chapter XXII In the Torture Chamber

  THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED

  We were in the middle of a little six-cornered room, the sides of whichwere covered with mirrors from top to bottom. In the corners, we couldclearly see the "joins" in the glasses, the segments intended to turnon their gear; yes, I recognized them and I recognized the iron tree inthe corner, at the bottom of one of those segments ... the iron tree,with its iron branch, for the hanged men.

  I seized my companion's arm: the Vicomte de Chagny was all a-quiver,eager to shout to his betrothed that he was bringing her help. Ifeared that he would not be able to contain himself.

  Suddenly, we heard a noise on our left. It sounded at first like adoor opening and shutting in the next room; and then there was a dullmoan. I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still; and then wedistinctly heard these words:

  "You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!" Irecognized the voice of the monster.

  There was another moan, followed by a long silence.

  I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence inhis house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not to let ushear him. He would only have had to close the little invisible windowthrough which the torture-lovers look down into the torture-chamber.Besides, I was certain that, if he had known of our presence, thetortures would have begun at once.

  The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded nothing somuch as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny, who wanted to rushthrough the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans we continued to hearat intervals.

  "The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed, "whereasthe wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent! Youmust take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go on livinglike this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant is finished;and now I want to live like everybody else. I want to have a wife likeeverybody else and to take her out on Sundays. I have invented a maskthat makes me look like anybody. People will not even turn round inthe streets. You will be the happiest of women. And we will sing, allby ourselves, till we swoon away with delight. You are crying! Youare afraid of me! And yet I am not really wicked. Love me and youshall see! All I wanted was to be loved for myself. If you loved me Ishould be as gentle as a lamb; and you could do anything with me thatyou pleased."

  Soon the moans that accompanied this sort of love's litany increasedand increased. I have never heard anything more despairing; and M. deChagny and I recognized that this terrible lamentation came from Erikhimself. Christine seemed to be standing dumb with horror, without thestrength to cry out, while the monster was on his knees before her.

  Three times over, Erik fiercely bewailed his fate:

  "You don't love me! You don't love me! You don't love me!"

  And then, more gently:

  "Why do you cry? You know it gives me pain to see you cry!"

  A silence.

  Each silence gave us fresh hope. We said to ourselves:

  "Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall."

  And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae of ourpresence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave thetorture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us; and it wasonly on this condition that we could hope to help her, for we did noteven know where the door might be.

  Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing ofan electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall andErik's voice of thunder:

  "Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!"

  A sinister chuckle.

  "Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here ... I AM GOING TO TELLTHE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR."

  Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the freshhorror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going outperhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing:Christine was alone behind the wall!

  The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her:

  "Christine! Christine!"

  As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was no reasonwhy my companion should not be heard in his turn. Nevertheless, theviscount had to repeat his cry time after time.

  At last, a faint voice reached us.

  "I am dreaming!" it said.

  "Christine, Christine, it is I, Raoul!"

  A silence.

  "But answer me, Christine! ... In Heaven's name, if you are alone,answer me!"

  Then Christine's voice whispered Raoul's name.

  "Yes! Yes! It is I! It is not a dream! ... Christine, trust me! ...We are here to save you ... but be prudent! When you hear the monster,warn us!"

  Then Christine gave way to fear. She trembled lest Erik shoulddiscover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried wordsthat Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO KILLEVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent to becomehis wife. He had given her till eleven o'clock the next evening forreflection. It was the last respite. She must choose, as he said,between the wedding mass and the requiem.

  And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not quiteunderstand:

  "Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!"

  But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded in aterrible manner with my own dreadful thought.

  "Can you tell us where Erik is?" I asked.

  She replied that he must have left the house.

  "Could you make sure?"

  "No. I am fastened. I can not stir a limb."

  When we heard this, M. de Chagny and I gave a yell of fury. Oursafety, the safety of all three of us, depended on the girl's libertyof movement.

  "But where are you?" asked Christine. "There are only two doors in myroom, the Louis-Philippe room of which I told you, Raoul; a doorthrough which Erik comes and goes, and another which he has neveropened before me and which he has forbidden me ever to go through,because he says it is the most dangerous of the doors, the door of thetorture-chamber!"

  "Christine, that is where we are!"

  "You are in the torture-chamber?"

  "Yes, but we can not see the door."

  "Oh, if I could only drag myself so far! I would knock at the door andthat would tell you where it is."

  "Is it a door with a lock to it?" I asked.

  "Yes, with a lock."

  "Mademoiselle," I said, "it is absolutely necessary, that you shouldopen that door to us!"

  "But how?" asked the poor girl tearfully.

  We heard her straining, trying to free herself from the bonds that heldher.

  "I know where the key is," she said, in a voice that seemed exhaustedby the effort she had made. "But I am fastened so tight ... Oh, thewretch!"

  And she gave a sob.

  "Where is the key?" I asked, signing to M. de Chagny not to speak andto leave the business to me, for we had not a moment to lose.

  "In the next room, near the organ, with another little bronze key,which he also forbade me to touch. They are both in a little leatherbag which he calls the bag of life and death... Raoul! Raoul! Fly!Everything is mysterious and terrible here, and Erik will soon havegone quite mad, and you are in the torture-chamber! ... Go back by theway you came. There must be a reason why the room is called by thatname!"

  "Christine," said the young man. "We will go from here together or dietogether!"

  "We must keep cool," I whispered. "Why has he fastened you,mademoiselle? You can't escape from his house; and he knows it!"

  "I tried to commit suicide! The monster went out last night, aftercarrying me here fainting and half chloroformed. He was going TO HISBANKER, so he said! ... When he returned he found me with my facecovered with blood ... I had tried to kill myself by striking myforehead against the walls."

  "Christine!" groaned Raoul; and he began to sob.

  "Then he bound me ... I am not allowed to die until
eleven o'clockto-morrow evening."

  "Mademoiselle," I declared, "the monster bound you ... and he shallunbind you. You have only to play the necessary part! Remember thathe loves you!"

  "Alas!" we heard. "Am I likely to forget it!"

  "Remember it and smile to him ... entreat him ... tell him that yourbonds hurt you."

  But Christine Daae said:

  "Hush! ... I hear something in the wall on the lake! ... It is he! ...Go away! Go away! Go away!"

  "We could not go away, even if we wanted to," I said, as impressivelyas I could. "We can not leave this! And we are in thetorture-chamber!"

  "Hush!" whispered Christine again.

  Heavy steps sounded slowly behind the wall, then stopped and made thefloor creak once more. Next came a tremendous sigh, followed by a cryof horror from Christine, and we heard Erik's voice:

  "I beg your pardon for letting you see a face like this! What a stateI am in, am I not? It's THE OTHER ONE'S FAULT! Why did he ring? Do Iask people who pass to tell me the time? He will never ask anybody thetime again! It is the siren's fault."

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  Another sigh, deeper, more tremendous still, came from the abysmaldepths of a soul.

  "Why did you cry out, Christine?"

  "Because I am in pain, Erik."

  "I thought I had frightened you."

  "Erik, unloose my bonds ... Am I not your prisoner?"

  "You will try to kill yourself again."

  "You have given me till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening, Erik."

  The footsteps dragged along the floor again.

  "After all, as we are to die together ... and I am just as eager as you... yes, I have had enough of this life, you know... Wait, don't move,I will release you ... You have only one word to say: 'NO!' And itwill at once be over WITH EVERYBODY! ... You are right, you are right;why wait till eleven o'clock to-morrow evening? True, it would havebeen grander, finer ... But that is childish nonsense ... We shouldonly think of ourselves in this life, of our own death ... the restdoesn't matter... YOU'RE LOOKING AT ME BECAUSE I AM ALL WET? ... Oh,my dear, it's raining cats and dogs outside! ... Apart from that,Christine, I think I am subject to hallucinations ... You know, theman who rang at the siren's door just now--go and look if he's ringingat the bottom of the lake-well, he was rather like... There, turnround ... are you glad? You're free now... Oh, my poor Christine,look at your wrists: tell me, have I hurt them? ... That alonedeserves death ... Talking of death, I MUST SING HIS REQUIEM!"

  Hearing these terrible remarks, I received an awful presentiment ... Itoo had once rung at the monster's door ... and, without knowing it,must have set some warning current in motion.

  And I remembered the two arms that had emerged from the inky waters...What poor wretch had strayed to that shore this time? Who was 'theother one,' the one whose requiem we now heard sung?

  Erik sang like the god of thunder, sang a DIES IRAE that enveloped usas in a storm. The elements seemed to rage around us. Suddenly, theorgan and the voice ceased so suddenly that M. de Chagny sprang back,on the other side of the wall, with emotion. And the voice, changedand transformed, distinctly grated out these metallic syllables: "WHATHAVE YOU DONE WITH MY BAG?"