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The Phantom of the Opera Chapter VII - Faust and What Followed · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seven of the Phantom of the Opera by Gaston L. Rue,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Alexander Tizera Demattos. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter seven Faust and what followed. On
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  Speaker 1: the Saturday morning, on reaching their office, the joint managers
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  Speaker 1: found a letter from O. G worded in these terms,
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  Speaker 1: My dear managers, so it is to be war between
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  Speaker 1: it if you still care for peace. Here is my ultimatum.
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  Speaker 1: It consists of the four following conditions. One, you must
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  Speaker 1: give me back my private box, and I wish it
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  Speaker 1: to be at my free disposal from henceforward. Two the
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  Speaker 1: part of Margherita shall be sung this evening by Christine Day.
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  Speaker 1: Never mind about Carlata, she will be ill. Three. I
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  Speaker 1: absolutely insist upon the good and loyal services of Madame Jery,
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  Speaker 1: my box keeper, whom you will reinstate in her functions forthwith.
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  Speaker 1: For let me know by a letter handed to Madame Gerie,
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  Speaker 1: who will see that it reaches me that you accept,
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  Speaker 1: as your predecessors did, the conditions in my memorandum book
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  Speaker 1: relating to my monthly allowance. I will inform you later
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  Speaker 1: how you are to pay it to me. If you refuse,
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  Speaker 1: you will give faust to night in a house with
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  Speaker 1: a curse upon it. Take my advice and be warned
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  Speaker 1: in time. Oh g look here, I'm getting sick of him.
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  Speaker 1: Sick of him, shouted Richard, bringing his fist down upon
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  Speaker 1: his office table. Just then Mercier, the acting manager, entered.
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  Speaker 1: Sachannel would like to see one of you, gentlemen, he said.
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  Speaker 1: He says that his business is urgent, and he seems
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  Speaker 1: quite upset. Who's Lachannel, asked Richard. He's your stud groom.
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  Speaker 1: What do you mean, my studgroom? Yes, sir, Plain Mercier,
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  Speaker 1: there are several grooms at the opera, and Monsieur Lacanel
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  Speaker 1: is at the head of them. And what does this
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  Speaker 1: groom do? He has the chief management of the stable?
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  Speaker 1: What stable? Why, your sir, the stable of the opera.
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  Speaker 1: Is there a stable at the opera? Upon my word,
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  Speaker 1: I didn't know where is it? In the cellars on
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  Speaker 1: the rotande side. It's a very important department. We have
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  Speaker 1: twelve horses. Twelve horses, and what for in Heaven's name,
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  Speaker 1: why we want trained horses for the processions in the Jeweve,
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  Speaker 1: the Profeta and so on. Horses used to the boards.
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  Speaker 1: It is the groom's business to teach them. Monsieur Lacanel
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  Speaker 1: is very clever at it. He used to manage Franconi's
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  Speaker 1: stables very well. But what does he want? I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: I never saw him in such a state. He can
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  Speaker 1: come in. Monsieur Lacanel came in carrying a riding whip,
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  Speaker 1: with which he struck his right boot in an irritable manner.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Monsieur Lacanel, said Richard, somewhat impressed to what
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  Speaker 1: do we owe the honor of your visit, mister manager,
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  Speaker 1: I have come to ask you to get rid of
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  Speaker 1: the whole stable. What you want to get rid of
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  Speaker 1: our horses? I'm not talking of the horses, but of
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  Speaker 1: the stableman. How many stablemen have you, Monsieur Lacanel. Six stablemen.
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  Speaker 1: That's at least two too many. These are places mercier interposed,
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  Speaker 1: created and forced upon us by the under Secretary for
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  Speaker 1: Fine Arts. They are filled by proteges of the government,
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  Speaker 1: and if I may venture to, I don't care a
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  Speaker 1: hang for the government, roared Richard. We don't need more
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  Speaker 1: than four stablemen for twelve horses. Eleven, said the head
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  Speaker 1: riding master, correcting him twelve, repeated Richard. Eleven, repeated Lacanel. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: the acting manager told me that you had twelve horses.
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  Speaker 1: I did have twelve, but I only have eleven since
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  Speaker 1: Cesar was stolen, and Monsieur Lacanell gave himself a great
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  Speaker 1: smack on the boot with his whip. I've Cesar been stolen,
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  Speaker 1: cried the acting manager. Cesar the white horse in the profeta.
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  Speaker 1: There are not two cizars, said the stud groom dryly.
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  Speaker 1: I was ten years at Franconis, and I have seen
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  Speaker 1: plenty of horses in my time. Well, there are not
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  Speaker 1: two cizars, and he's been stolen. How I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Nobody knows. That's why I have come to ask you
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  Speaker 1: to sack the whole stable. What do your stablemen say?
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  Speaker 1: All sorts of nonsense. Some of them accuse the suppers,
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  Speaker 1: others pretend that it's the acting manager's door keeper, my doorkeeper.
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  Speaker 1: I'll answer for him as I would for myself, protested Mercye.
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  Speaker 1: But after all, Monsieur Lacannel cried Richard, you must have
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  Speaker 1: some idea. Yes I have, Monsieur Lacanel declared, I have
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  Speaker 1: an idea, and I'll tell you what it is, There's
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  Speaker 1: no doubt about it in my mind. He walked up
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  Speaker 1: to the two managers and whispered, it's the ghost who
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  Speaker 1: did the trick. Richard gave a jump. What you two?
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  Speaker 1: You too? How do you mean I too? Isn't it natural?
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  Speaker 1: After what I saw? What did you see? I saw
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  Speaker 1: as clearly as I now see you, a black shadow
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  Speaker 1: riding a white horse that was as like cizar as
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  Speaker 1: two peas. And did you run after them? I did,
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  Speaker 1: and I shouted, but they were too fast for me
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  Speaker 1: and disappeared in the darkness of the underground gallery. Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: Richard rose, that will do, Monsieur Lachanel, you can go.
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  Speaker 1: We will lodge a complaint against the ghost and sack
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  Speaker 1: my stable. Oh, of course, good morning, Monsieur Lachanel bowed
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  Speaker 1: and withdrew Richard foamed at the mouth, settled that idiot's
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  Speaker 1: account at once. Please, he is a friend of the
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  Speaker 1: government representatives. Mercy ventured to say, and he takes his
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  Speaker 1: vermouth at Tortolni's with La Graine Shawl and Pertusay. The
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  Speaker 1: lion hunter added, Moncharmin, we shall have the whole press
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  Speaker 1: against us. He'll tell the story of the ghost, and
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  Speaker 1: everybody will be laughing at our expense. We may as
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  Speaker 1: well be dead as ridiculous all write say no more
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  Speaker 1: about it. At that moment the door opened. It must
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  Speaker 1: have been deserted by its usual sibaris, for Madame Jerye
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  Speaker 1: entered without ceremony, holding a letter in her hand, and said, hurriedly,
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  Speaker 1: I beg your pardon. Excuse me, gentlemen, but I had
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  Speaker 1: a letter this morning from the opera ghost. He told
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  Speaker 1: me to come to you, that you had something to
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  Speaker 1: She did not complete the sentence. She saw firm in
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  Speaker 1: Richard's face, and it was a terrible sight. He seemed
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  Speaker 1: ready to burst. He said nothing, he could not speak,
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  Speaker 1: but suddenly he acted. First, his left arm seized upon
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  Speaker 1: the quaint person of Madame Jerie and made her describe
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  Speaker 1: so unexpected a semicircle that she uttered a despairing cry. Next,
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  Speaker 1: his right foot imprinted its soul upon the black taffeta
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  Speaker 1: of a skirt, which certainly had never before undergone a
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  Speaker 1: similar outrage in a similar place. The thing happened so
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  Speaker 1: quickly that Madame Jerie, when in the passage, was still
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  Speaker 1: quite bewildered and seemed not to understand. But suddenly she understood,
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  Speaker 1: and the opera rang with her indignant yells, her violent
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  Speaker 1: protests and threats. About the same time, Carlotta, who had
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  Speaker 1: a small house of her own in the Rue du
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  Speaker 1: faubour Sinnorie, rang for her maid, who brought her letters
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  Speaker 1: to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive written
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  Speaker 1: in redd ink in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran,
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  Speaker 1: if you appeared to night, you must be prepared for
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  Speaker 1: a great misfortune at the moment when you open your
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  Speaker 1: mouth to sing, a misfortune worse than death. The letter
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  Speaker 1: took away Carlotta's appetite for breakfast. She pushed back her chocolate,
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  Speaker 1: sat up in bed and thought hard. It was not
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  Speaker 1: the first letter of the kind which she had received,
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  Speaker 1: but she never had one couched in such threatening terms.
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  Speaker 1: She thought herself at that time the victim of a
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  Speaker 1: thousand jealous attempts, and went about saying that she had
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  Speaker 1: a secret enemy who had sworn to ruin her. She
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  Speaker 1: pretended that a wicked plot was being hatched against her,
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  Speaker 1: a kebal, which would come to a head one of
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  Speaker 1: those days. But she added that she was not the
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  Speaker 1: woman to be intimidated. The truth is that if there
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  Speaker 1: was a kebal It was led by Carlotta herself against
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  Speaker 1: poor Christine, who had no suspicion of it. Carlotta had
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  Speaker 1: never forgiven Christine for the triumph which she had achieved
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  Speaker 1: when taking her place at a moment's notice. When Carlotta
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  Speaker 1: heard of the astounding reception bestowed upon her understudy, she
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  Speaker 1: was at once cured of an incipient attack of bronchitis
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  Speaker 1: and a bad fit of sulking against the management, and
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  Speaker 1: lost the slightest inclination to sherk her duties. From that
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  Speaker 1: time she worked with all her might to smother her rival,
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  Speaker 1: enlisting the services of influential friends to persuade the managers
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  Speaker 1: not to give Christine an opportunity for a fresh triumph.
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  Speaker 1: Certain newspapers, which had begun to extol the talent of Christine,
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  Speaker 1: now interested themselves only in the fame of Carlotta. Lastly,
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  Speaker 1: in the theater itself, the celebrated, but heartless and soulless
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  Speaker 1: diva made the most scandalous remarks about Christine and tried
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  Speaker 1: to cause her endless minor unpleasantnesses. When Carlotta had finished
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  Speaker 1: thinking over the threat contained in the strange letter, she
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  Speaker 1: got up, we shall see, she said, adding a few
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  Speaker 1: oats in her native Spanish, with a very determined air.
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  Speaker 1: The first thing she saw when looking out of her
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  Speaker 1: window was a hearse. She was very superstitious, and the
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  Speaker 1: hearse and the letter convinced her that she was running
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  Speaker 1: the most serious dangers. That evening, she collected all her supporters,
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  Speaker 1: told them that she was threatened at that evening's performance
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  Speaker 1: with a plot organized by Christine Day, and declared that
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  Speaker 1: they must play a trick upon that chit by filling
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  Speaker 1: the house with her Carlotta's admirers. She had no lack
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  Speaker 1: of them, had she. She relied upon them to hold
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  Speaker 1: themselves prepared for any eventuality, and to silence the adversaries if,
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  Speaker 1: as she feared, they created a disturbance. Monsieur Richards's private
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  Speaker 1: secretary called to ask after the diver's health, and returned
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  Speaker 1: with the assurance that she was perfectly well, and that
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  Speaker 1: were she dying, she would sing the part of Marguerita.
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  Speaker 1: That evening. The secretary urged her in his chief's name,
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  Speaker 1: to commit no imprudence, to stay at home all day,
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  Speaker 1: and to be careful of drafts. And Carlotta could not help.
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  Speaker 1: After he had gone comparing this unusual and unexpected advice
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  Speaker 1: with the threats contained in the letter. It was five
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  Speaker 1: o'clock when the post brought a second anonymous letter in
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  Speaker 1: the same hand as the first. It was short and
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  Speaker 1: said simply, you have a bad cold. If you are wise,
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  Speaker 1: you will see that it is madness to try to
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  Speaker 1: sing to night. Carlotta sneered, shrugged her handsome shoulders, and
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  Speaker 1: sang two or three notes to reassure herself. Her friends
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  Speaker 1: were faithful to their promise. They were all at the
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  Speaker 1: opera that night, but looked round in vain for the
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  Speaker 1: fierce conspirators whom they were instructed to suppress. The only
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  Speaker 1: unusual thing was the presence of Monsieur Richard and Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin in box five. Carlotta's friends thought that perhaps the
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  Speaker 1: managers had win on their side of the proposed disturbance,
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  Speaker 1: and that they had determined to be in the house
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  Speaker 1: so as to stop it then and there. But this
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  Speaker 1: was unjustifiable supposition. As the reader knows, Monsieur Richard and
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Moncharmin were thinking of nothing but their ghost. Bain
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  Speaker 1: in vain, Do I call through my vigil, weary on
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  Speaker 1: creation and its lord never reply, will break the silence dreary,
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  Speaker 1: no sign, no single word. The famous baritone Careless Fonta
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: had hardly finished doctor Fous's first appeal to the powers
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  Speaker 1: of darkness when Monsieur Firmin Richard, who was sitting in
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  Speaker 1: the ghost's own chair the front chair on the right,
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  Speaker 1: leaned over to his partner and asked him chafingly, well,
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  Speaker 1: has the ghost whispered a word in your ear yet? Wait?
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  Speaker 1: Don't be in such a hurry, replied Monsieur armand Moncharmin
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  Speaker 1: in the same gay tone. The performance has only begun,
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  Speaker 1: and you know that the ghost does not usually come
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  Speaker 1: until the middle of the first act. The first act
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  Speaker 1: passed without incident, which did not surprise Carrotta's friends, because
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  Speaker 1: Margerita does not sing in this act. As for the managers,
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  Speaker 1: they looked at each other when the curtain fell. That's one,
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  Speaker 1: said Moncharmin. Yes, the ghost is late, said Firmin Richard.
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  Speaker 1: It's not a bad house, said Moncharmin, for a house
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  Speaker 1: with a curse on it. Sure, Richard smiled and pointed
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  Speaker 1: to a fat, rather vulgar woman dressed in black, sitting
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  Speaker 1: in a stall in the middle of the auditorium with
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  Speaker 1: a man in a broadcloth frock coat on either side
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  Speaker 1: of her. Who on earth are those, asked Moncharmin. Those,
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  Speaker 1: my dear fellow, are my concierge, her husband and her brother.
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  Speaker 1: Did you give them their tickets? I did. My concierge
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  Speaker 1: had never been to the opera. This is the first time,
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  Speaker 1: and as she is now going to come every night,
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  Speaker 1: I wanted her to have a good seat before spending
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  Speaker 1: her showing other people to theirs. Moncharmin asked what he meant,
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  Speaker 1: and Richard answered that he had persuaded his concierge, in
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  Speaker 1: whom he had the greatest confidence, to come and take
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  Speaker 1: Madame Jerye's place. Yes, he would like to see if
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  Speaker 1: with that woman instead of the old lunatic Box five
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  Speaker 1: would continue to astonish the natives. By the way, said Moncharmin,
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  Speaker 1: you know that Mother Gerie is going to lodge a
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  Speaker 1: complaint against you with whom the ghost. The ghost Moncharmin
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: had almost forgotten him. However, that mysterious person did nothing
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  Speaker 1: to bring himself to the memory of the managers, and
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: they were just saying so to each other for the
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: second time when the door of the box suddenly opened
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  Speaker 1: to admit the startled stage manager. What's the matter, they
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  Speaker 1: both asked, amazed at seeing him there at such a time.
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  Speaker 1: It seems there's a plot got up by Christine Day's
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: friends against Carlotta Carlottus furious. What on earth, said Richard,
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  Speaker 1: knitting his brows. But the curtain rose on the cremess scene,
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  Speaker 1: and Richard made a sign to the stage manager to
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  Speaker 1: go away. When the two were alone again, Moncharmin leaned
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  Speaker 1: over to Richard, then they as friends. He asked, yes,
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  Speaker 1: she has whom Richard glanced across at a box on
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  Speaker 1: the grand tier containing no one but two men, the
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Comte de Chenni. Yes, he spoke to me in her favor,
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: with such warmth that if I had not known him
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: to be Sorelli's friend. Really, really, said Moncharmin. And who
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: is that pale young man beside him? That's his brother,
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: the Viscount. He ought to be in his bed. He
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: looks ill. The stage rang with gay song, red or white,
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: liquor coarse or fine? What can it matter? So we
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: have wine, students, citizens, soldiers, girls and matrons world light
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  Speaker 1: heartedly before the inn with the figure of Bacchus for
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: a sign. Sebel made her entrance. Christine Day looked charming
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: in her boy's clothes, and Carlotta's partisans expected to hear
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  Speaker 1: her greeted with an ovation which would have enlightened them
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: as to the intentions of her friends, but nothing happened.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: On the other hand, when Marguerita crossed the stage and
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  Speaker 1: sang the only two lines allotted her in this second act, No,
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  Speaker 1: my lord, not a lady am I, nor yet a beauty?
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  Speaker 1: And do not need an arm to help me on
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  Speaker 1: my way, Carlotta was received with enthusiastic applause. It was
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  Speaker 1: so unexpected and so uncalled for that those who knew
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  Speaker 1: nothing about the rumors looked at one another and asked
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: what was happening? And this act also was finished without incident.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: Then everybody said, of course, it will be during the
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: next act. Some who seemed to be better informed than
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: the rest, declared that the row would be again with
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the Ballad of the King of Tulli, and rushed to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: the subscriber's entrance to warn Carlotta. The managers left the
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: box during the unt to act to find out more
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  Speaker 1: about the cabal of which the stage manager had spoken,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: but they soon returned to their seats, shrugging their shoulders
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: and treating the whole affair as silly. The first thing
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: they saw on entering the box was a box of
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: English suites on the little shelf of the ledge. Who
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: had put it there? They asked the box keepers, but
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: none of them knew. Then they went back to the shelf,
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: and next to the box of suites found an opera glass.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: They looked at each other. They had no inclination to laugh.
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: All that Madame Jerie had told them returned to their memory,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: and then, and then they seemed to feel a curious
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: sort of draft around them. They sat down in silence.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: The scene represented Marguerita's garden, jan two flow in the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: dew being messy from me. As she sang these first
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: two lines with her bunch of roses and lilacs in
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: her hand, Christine, raising her head, saw the Vicomte de
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: Chaignie in his box, and from that moment her voice
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: seemed less sure, less crystal clear than usual. Something seemed
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: to deaden and dull her singing. What a queer girl
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: she is, said one of Carlotta's friends in the stalls,
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: almost aloud. The other day she was divine, and to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: night she's simply bleating. She has no experience, no training.
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: Jan little flowers, lie ye there and tell her from me.
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: The Viscount put his head under his hands and wept.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: The Count behind him viciously, gnad his mustache, shrugged his
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: shoulders and frowned. For him usually so cold and correct.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: To betray his inner feelings like that by outward signs,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: the Count must be very angry. He was. He had
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: seen his brother return from a rapid and mysterious journey
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: in an alarming state of health. The explanation that followed
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: was unsatisfactory, and the Count asked Christine Day for an appointment.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: She had the audacity to reply that she could not
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: see either him or his brother. Would she but deign
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: to hear me? And with one smile to cheer me?
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: The little baggage growled the Count, and he wondered what
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: she wanted, what she was hoping for. She was a
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: virtuous girl. She was said to have no friend, no
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: protector of any sort. That angel from the north must
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: be very artful. Raoul, behind the curtain of his hands
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: that veiled his boy's tears, thought only of the letter
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: which he received on his return to Paris. Where Christine,
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: fleeing from Paros like a thief in the night, had
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: arrived before him. My dear little playfellow, you must have
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: the courage to see me again, not to speak of
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: me again. If you love me just a little, do
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: this for me, for me who will never forget you,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: My dear raoul. My life depends upon it. Your life
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: depends upon it, Your little Christine thunders of applause. Carlotta
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: made her entrance. I wish I could but know who
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: was he that addressed me, if he was noble, or
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: at least what his name is. When Margherita had finished
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: singing the Ballad of the King of Tulli, she was
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: loudly cheered, and again when she came to the end
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: of the jewel song, Ah the joy past, compare these
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: jewels bright to wear. Thenceforth, certain of herself, certain of
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: her friends in the house, certain of her voice and
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: her success. Fearing nothing, Carlotta flung herself into her part
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: without restraint of modesty. She was no longer Marguerite. She
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: was Carmen. She was applauded all the more, and her
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: debut with Thou seemed about to bring her a new success.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: When Suddenly a terrible thing happened. Faust had knelt on
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: one knee. Let me gaze on the form below me,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: while from yonder ether blue. Look how the star of
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: eve bright and tender lingers over me to love thy
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: beauty too. And Margherita replied, Oh, how strange like a
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: spelled as the evening bind me and a deep, languid charm,
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: I feel without alarm, with its melody enwind me and
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: all my heart subdue at that moment, at that identical moment,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: the terrible thing happened, Carlotta croaked like a toad quak.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: There was consternation on Carlotta's face, and consternation on the
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: faces of all the audience. The two managers in their
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: box could not suppress an extra flammation of horror. Everyone
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: felt that the thing was not natural, that there was
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: witchcraft behind it, that toad smelt of brimstone, Poor wretched,
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: despairing Crust Carlotta. The uproar in the house was indescribable.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: If the thing had happened to any one but Carlotta,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: she would have been hooted. But everybody knew how perfect
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: an instrument her voice was, and there was no display
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: of anger, but only of horror and dismay, the sort
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: of dismay which men would have felt if they had
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: witnessed the catastrophe that broke the arms of the Venus Demilo,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: And even then they would have seen and understood. But
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: here that toad was incomprehensible, so much so that, after
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: some second spent in asking herself if she had really
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: heard that note, that sound, that infernal noise issue from
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: her throat, she tried to persuade herself that it was
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: not so, that she was a victim of an illusion,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: an illusion of the ear, and not of an act
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: of treachery on the part of her voice. Meanwhile, in
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: Box five, Moncharmin and Richard had turned very pale. This
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: extraordinary and inexplicable incident filled them with a dread, which
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: was the more mysterious inasmuch as, for some little while
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: they had fallen within the direct influence of the ghost.
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: They had felt his breath. Moncharmin's hair stood on end,
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: Richard wiped the perspiration from his forehead. Yes, the ghost
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: was there around them, behind them, beside them. They felt
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: his presence, without seeing him. They heard his breath close, close,
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: close to them, they were sure that there were three
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: people in the box. They trembled. They thought of running away,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: They dared not. They dared not make a movement or
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: exchange a word that would have told the ghost that
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: they knew that he was there. What was going to happen?
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: This happened quak. Their joint exclamation of horror was heard
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: all over the house. They felt that they were smarting
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: under the ghosts attacks. Leaning over the ledge of their box,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: they stared at Carlotta as though they did not recognize her.
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: That infernal girl must have given the signal for some catastrophe. Ah.
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: They were waiting for the catastrophe. The ghost had told
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: them it would come. The house had a curse upon it.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: The two managers gasped and panted under the weight of
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: the catastrophe. Richard's stifled voice was heard calling to Carlotta,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: well go on, No, Carlotta did not go on. Bravely, heroically,
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: she started afresh on the fatal line at the end
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of which the toad had appeared. An awful silence succeeded
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: the uproar. Carlotta's voice alone once more filled the resounding house.
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: I feel without alarm. The audience also felt, but not
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: without alarm. I feel without alarm, I feel without alarm.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: Quack with its melody unwined me quak, oh, my heart's
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: ab quick. The toad also had started afresh. The house
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: broke into a wild tumult. The two managers collapsed in
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: their chairs and dared not even turn round. They had
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: not the strength. The ghost was chuckling behind their backs,
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: and at last they distinctly heard his voice in their
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: right ears, the impossible voice, the mouthless boy, saying she
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: is singing to night. To bring the chandelier down. With
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: one accord, they raised their eyes to the ceiling and
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: uttered a terrible cry the chandelier. The immense mass of
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: the chandelier was slipping down, coming toward them at the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: call of that fiendish voice. Released from its hook, it
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: plunged from the ceiling and came smashing into the middle
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: of the stalls. Amid a thousand shouts of terror. A
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: wild rush for the doors followed. The papers of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: day state that there were numbers wounded and one killed.
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: The chandelier had crashed down on the head of the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: wretched woman, who had come to the opera for the
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: first time in her life. The one whom Monsieur Richard
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: had appointed to succeed Madame Jerry, the ghost box Keeper
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: in her functions. She died on the spot, and the
• 26:13
  Speaker 1: next morning a newspaper appeared with this heading, two hundred
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: kilos on the head of a concierge. That was her
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: sole epitaph. End of Chapter seven.