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The Phantom of the Opera Chapter XIX - The Viscount and the Persian · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter nineteen of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LaRue,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Alexander Tizera Dematos. This Librevox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter nineteen, The Viscount and the Persian.
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  Speaker 1: Raoul now remembered that his brother had once shown him
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  Speaker 1: that mysterious person of whom nothing was known, except that
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  Speaker 1: he was a Persian, and that he lived in a
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  Speaker 1: little old fashioned flat in the Rue des Rivoli. The
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  Speaker 1: man with the ebony skin, the eyes of jade, and
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  Speaker 1: the astracan cap bent over Raoul. I hope, Monsieur de Chagni.
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  Speaker 1: He said that you have not betrayed Eric's secret, and
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  Speaker 1: why should I hesitate to betray that monster? Sir? Raoul rejoined, haughtily,
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  Speaker 1: trying to shake off the intruder. Is he your friend?
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  Speaker 1: By any chance? I hope that you said nothing about Eric, sir,
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  Speaker 1: because Eric's secret is also Christine Days, and to talk
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  Speaker 1: about one is to talk about the other, oh, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: said Raoul, becoming more and more impatient. You seem to
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  Speaker 1: know about many things that interest me, and yet I
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  Speaker 1: have no time to listen to you. Once more, Monsieur
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  Speaker 1: de chonnyie, where are you going so fast? Cannot you
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  Speaker 1: guess to Christine Day's assistance? Then, Sir, stay here, for
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  Speaker 1: Christine Day is here with Erik, with Erik. How do
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  Speaker 1: you know I was at the performance, and no one
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  Speaker 1: in the world but Erik could contrive an abduction like that. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: he said, with a deep sigh. I recognize the monster's touch,
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  Speaker 1: you know him. Then the Persian did not reply, but
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  Speaker 1: heaved a fresh sigh. Sir said Raoul, I do not
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  Speaker 1: know what your intentions are, but can you do anything
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  Speaker 1: to help me? I mean to help Christine Day. I
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  Speaker 1: think so, Monsieur Dechonie, and that is why I spoke
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  Speaker 1: to you. What can you do? Try to take you
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  Speaker 1: to her and to him. If you can do me
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  Speaker 1: that Serviceir, my life is yours. One word more. The
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  Speaker 1: Commissary of Police tells me that Christine Day has been
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  Speaker 1: carried off by my brother, Count Philippe. Oh, Monsieur Dechonie,
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  Speaker 1: I don't believe a word of it. It's not possible,
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  Speaker 1: is it. I don't know if it is possible or not.
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  Speaker 1: But there are ways and ways of carrying people off,
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  Speaker 1: and Monsieur le Comte de Filippe has never as far
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  Speaker 1: as I know, had anything to do with witchcraft. Your
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  Speaker 1: arguments are convincing, sir, and I am a fool. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: let us make haste. I place myself entirely in your hands.
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  Speaker 1: How should I not believe you when you are the
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  Speaker 1: only one to believe me, when you are the only
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  Speaker 1: one not to smile. When Eric's name is mentioned, and
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  Speaker 1: the young man impetuously seized the Persian's hands, they were
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  Speaker 1: ice cold silence, said the Persian, stopping and listening to
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  Speaker 1: the distant sounds of the theater. We must not mention
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  Speaker 1: that name here. Let us say he and him. Then
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  Speaker 1: there will be less danger of attracting his attention. Do
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  Speaker 1: you think he is near us? It is quite possible, sir,
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  Speaker 1: if he is not at this moment with his victim
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  Speaker 1: in the house on the lake. Ah, so you know
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  Speaker 1: that house too. If he is not there, he may
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  Speaker 1: be here in this wall, in this floor, in this ceiling. Come,
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  Speaker 1: and the Persian, asking Raoul to deaden the sound of
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  Speaker 1: his footsteps, led him down passages which Raoul had never
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  Speaker 1: seen before, even at the time when Christine used to
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  Speaker 1: take him for walks through that labyrinth. If only Darius
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  Speaker 1: has come, said the Persia, who is Darius, Darius my servant.
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  Speaker 1: They were now in the center of a real deserted square,
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  Speaker 1: an immense apartment, ill lit by a small lamp. The
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  Speaker 1: Persian stopped Raoul and, in the softest of whispers, asked,
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  Speaker 1: what did you say to the commissary. I said that
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  Speaker 1: Christine Day's subductor was the Angel of Music alias the
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  Speaker 1: opera Ghost, and that the real name was Hush. And
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  Speaker 1: did he believe you? No, he attached no importance to
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  Speaker 1: what you said. No, he took you for a bit
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  Speaker 1: of a madman. Yes, so much the better, sighed the Persian,
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  Speaker 1: and they continued their road. After going up and down
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  Speaker 1: several staircases, which Raoul had never seen before, the two
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  Speaker 1: men found themselves in front of a door, which the
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  Speaker 1: Persian opened with a master key. The Persian and Raoul
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  Speaker 1: were both the of course, in dress clothes, but whereas
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  Speaker 1: Raoul had a tall hat, the Persian wore the Astrakhan cap,
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  Speaker 1: which I have already mentioned. It was an infringement of
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  Speaker 1: the rule which insists upon the tall hat. Behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 1: But in France, foreigners are allowed every license. The Englishman
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  Speaker 1: his traveling cap, the Persian his cap of Astrakhan, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: said the Persian. Your tall hat will be in your way.
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  Speaker 1: You would do well to leave it in the dressing room.
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  Speaker 1: What dressing room, asked Raoul Christine days and the Persian,
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  Speaker 1: letting Raoul through the door which he had just opened,
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  Speaker 1: showed him the actress's room opposite. They were at the
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  Speaker 1: end of the passage, the whole length of which Raoul
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  Speaker 1: had been accustomed to traverse before knocking at Christine's door.
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  Speaker 1: How well you know the opera, Sir, Not so well
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  Speaker 1: as he does, said the Persian modestly, and he pushed
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  Speaker 1: the young man into Christine's dressing room, which was as
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  Speaker 1: Raoul had left it a few minutes earlier. Closing the door,
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  Speaker 1: the Persian went to a very thin partition that separated
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  Speaker 1: the dressing room from a big lumber room next to it.
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  Speaker 1: He listened and then coughed loudly. There was a sound
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  Speaker 1: of some one stirring in the lumber room, and a
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  Speaker 1: few seconds later a finger tapped at the door. Come in,
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  Speaker 1: said the Persian. A man entered, also wearing an Astrakhan
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  Speaker 1: cap and dressed in a long overcoat. He bowed and
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  Speaker 1: took a richly carved case from under his coat, put
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  Speaker 1: it on the dressing table, bowed once again, and went
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  Speaker 1: to the door. Did no one see you come in? Darius?
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  Speaker 1: No master? Let no one see you go out? The
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  Speaker 1: servant glanced down the passage and swiftly disappeared. The Persian
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  Speaker 1: opened the case. It contained a pair of long pistols.
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  Speaker 1: When Christine Day was carried off, Sir, I sent word
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  Speaker 1: to my servant to bring me these pistols. I have
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  Speaker 1: had them a long time, and they can be relied upon.
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  Speaker 1: Do you mean to fight a duel? Asked the young man.
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  Speaker 1: It will certainly be a duel which we shall have
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  Speaker 1: to fight, said the other, examining the priming of his pistols.
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  Speaker 1: And what a duel? Handing one of the pistols to Raoul,
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  Speaker 1: he added, In this duel we shall be two to one,
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  Speaker 1: but you must be prepared for everything, for we shall
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  Speaker 1: be fighting the most terrible adversary that you can imagine.
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  Speaker 1: But you love Christine Day? Do you not? I worship
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  Speaker 1: the ground she stands on. But you, sir, who do
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  Speaker 1: not love her? Tell me why I find you ready
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  Speaker 1: to risk your life for her? You must certainly hate Eric, No, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: said the Persian, sadly, I do not hate him. If
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  Speaker 1: I hated him, he would long ago have ceased doing harm.
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  Speaker 1: Has he done you harm? I have forgiven him the
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  Speaker 1: harm which he has done me. I do not understand you.
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  Speaker 1: You treat him as a monster. You speak of his
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  Speaker 1: crime he has done you harm, And I find in
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  Speaker 1: you the same inexplicable pity that drove me to despair
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  Speaker 1: when I saw it in Christine. The Persian did not reply.
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  Speaker 1: He fetched a stool and set it against the wall,
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  Speaker 1: facing the great mirror that filled the hole of the
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  Speaker 1: wall space opposite. Then he climbed on the stool and,
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  Speaker 1: with his nose to the wall paper, seemed to be
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  Speaker 1: looking for something. Ah, he said, after a long search,
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  Speaker 1: I have it, and raising his finger above his head,
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  Speaker 1: he pressed against a corner in the pattern of the paper.
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  Speaker 1: Then he turned round and jumped off the stool. In
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  Speaker 1: half a minute, he said, he shall be on his road,
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  Speaker 1: and crossing the whole of the dressing room, he felt
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  Speaker 1: the great mirror. No, it is not yielding. Yet he muttered,
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  Speaker 1: Oh are we going out by the mirror? Asked Raoul,
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  Speaker 1: like Christine Day? So you knew that Christine Day went
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  Speaker 1: out by that mirror. She did so before my eye, Sir,
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  Speaker 1: I was hidden behind the curtain of the inner room,
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  Speaker 1: and I saw her vanish not by the glass, but
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  Speaker 1: in the glass. And what did you do? I thought
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  Speaker 1: it was an aberration of my senses, a mad dream
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  Speaker 1: o'er some new fancy of the ghost, chuckled the Persian.
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  Speaker 1: Ah monsieur de chonie, he continued, still with his hand
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  Speaker 1: on the mirror, would that we had to do with
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  Speaker 1: a ghost? We could then leave our pistols in their case.
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  Speaker 1: Put down your hat please there, and now cover your
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  Speaker 1: shirt front as much as you can with your coat
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  Speaker 1: as I am doing. Bring the lapels forward, turn up
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  Speaker 1: the collar. We must make ourselves as invisible as possible,
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  Speaker 1: bearing against the mirror. After a short silence, he said,
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  Speaker 1: it takes some time to release the counter balance when
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  Speaker 1: you press on the spring from the inside of the room.
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  Speaker 1: It is different when you are behind the wall and
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  Speaker 1: can act directly on the counter balance. Then the mirror
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  Speaker 1: turns at once and is moved with incredible rapidity. What counterbalance,
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  Speaker 1: asked Raoul. Why the counterbalance that lifts the whole of
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  Speaker 1: this wall on to its pivot. You surely don't expect
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  Speaker 1: it to move of itself by enchantment. If you watch,
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  Speaker 1: you will see the mirror first rise an inch or two,
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  Speaker 1: and then shift an inch or two from left to right.
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  Speaker 1: It will then be on a pivot and will swing round.
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  Speaker 1: It's not turning, said Raoul impatiently. Oh wait, you have
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  Speaker 1: time enough to be patient, sir. The mechanism has obviously
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  Speaker 1: become rusty or else. The spring isn't working unless it
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  Speaker 1: is something else, added the Persian anxiously. What he may
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  Speaker 1: simply have cut the cord of the counterbalance and blocked
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  Speaker 1: the whole apparatus. Why should he He does not know
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  Speaker 1: that we are coming this way. I dare say he
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  Speaker 1: suspects it, for he knows that I understand the system.
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  Speaker 1: It's not turning. And Christine, Sir, Christine, the Persian said coldly.
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  Speaker 1: We shall do all that it is humanly possible to do,
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  Speaker 1: but he may stop us at the first step. He
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  Speaker 1: commands the walls, the doors, and the trap doors. In
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  Speaker 1: my country, he was known by a name which means
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  Speaker 1: the trap door lover. But why do these walls obey
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  Speaker 1: him alone? He did not build them, Yes, sir, that
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  Speaker 1: is just what he did. Raoul looked at him in amazement.
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  Speaker 1: But the Persian made a sign to him to be silent,
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  Speaker 1: and pointed to the glass. There was a sort of
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  Speaker 1: shivering reflection. Their image was troubled, as in a rippling
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  Speaker 1: sheet of water, and then all became stationary again. You see, sir,
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  Speaker 1: that it is not turning. Let us take another road
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  Speaker 1: to night. There is no other, declared the Persian in
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  Speaker 1: a singularly mournful voice. And now look out and be
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  Speaker 1: ready to fire. He himself raised his pistol opposite the glass.
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  Speaker 1: Raoul imitated his movement with his free arm. The Persian
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  Speaker 1: drew the young man to his chest, and suddenly the
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  Speaker 1: mere turned in a blinding daze of cross lights. It
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  Speaker 1: turned like one of those revolving doors which have lately
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  Speaker 1: been fixed to the entrance of most restaurants. It turned,
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  Speaker 1: carrying Raoul and the Persian with it, and suddenly hurling
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  Speaker 1: them from the full light into the deepest darkness. End
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  Speaker 1: of Chapter nineteen.