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The Phantom of the Opera Chapter XXI - Interesting Vicissitudes · The Gaston Leroux Library

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one of The Phantom of the Opera by
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Speaker 1: Gaston LaRue, translated by Alexander to Zaradmatos. This LibriVox recording
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Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Chapter twenty one Interesting and
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Speaker 1: instructive Vicissitudes of a Persian in the Cellars of the
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Speaker 1: Opera the Persian's narrative. It was the first time that
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Speaker 1: I entered the house on the lake. I had often
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Speaker 1: begged the trap door lever, as we used to call
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Speaker 1: Eric in my country, to open its mysterious doors to me.
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Speaker 1: He always refused. I made very many attempts, but in
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Speaker 1: vain to obtain admittance. Watch him as I might. After
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Speaker 1: I first learned that he had taken up his permanent
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Speaker 1: abode at the opera, the darkness was always too thick
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Speaker 1: to enable me to see how he worked the door
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Speaker 1: in the wall on the lake. One day, when I
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Speaker 1: thought myself alone, I stepped into the boat and rowed
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Speaker 1: toward that part of the wall through which I had
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Speaker 1: seen Eric disappear. It was then that I came into
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Speaker 1: contact with the siren, who guarded the approach, and whose
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Speaker 1: charm was very nearly fatal to me. I had no
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Speaker 1: sooner put off from the bank. Than the silence amid
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Speaker 1: which I floated on the water was disturbed by a
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Speaker 1: sort of whispered singing that hovered all around me. It
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Speaker 1: was half breath, half music. It rose softly from the
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Speaker 1: waters of the lake, and I was surrounded by it
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Speaker 1: through I knew not what artifice. It followed me, moved
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Speaker 1: with me, and was so soft that it did not
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Speaker 1: alarm me. On the contrary and my longing to approach
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Speaker 1: the source of that sweet and enticing harmony, I leaned
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Speaker 1: out of my little boat over the water, for there
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Speaker 1: was no doubt in my mind that the singing came
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Speaker 1: from the water itself. By this time I was alone
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Speaker 1: in the boat in the middle of the lake. The voice,
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Speaker 1: for it was now distinctly a voice, was beside me
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Speaker 1: on the water. I leaned over, leaned still farther. The
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Speaker 1: lake was perfectly calm, and a moonbeam that passed through
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Speaker 1: the air hole in the rue scribe showed me absolutely
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Speaker 1: nothing on its surface, which was smooth and black as ink.
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Speaker 1: I shook my ears to get rid of a possible humming,
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Speaker 1: but I soon had to accept the fact that there
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Speaker 1: was no humming in the ears. So harmonious as the
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Speaker 1: singing whisper that followed and now attracted me. Had I
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Speaker 1: been inclined to superstition, I should have certainly thought that
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Speaker 1: I had to do with some siren whose business it
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Speaker 1: was to confound the traveler who should venture on the
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Speaker 1: waters of the house on the lake. Fortunately, I come
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Speaker 1: from a country where we are too fond of fantastic
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Speaker 1: things not to know them through and through, and I
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Speaker 1: had no doubt but that I was face to face
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Speaker 1: with some new invention of Eric's. But this invention was
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Speaker 1: so perfect that as I leaned out of the boat,
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Speaker 1: I was impelled less by a desire to discover its
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Speaker 1: trick than to enjoy its charm. And I leaned out,
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Speaker 1: leaned out until I almost overturned the boat. Suddenly, two
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Speaker 1: monstrous arms issued from the bosom of the waters and
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Speaker 1: seized me by the neck, dragging me down to the
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Speaker 1: depths with irresistible force. I should certainly have been lost
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Speaker 1: if I had not had time to give a cry
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Speaker 1: by which Eric knew me, for it was he, and
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Speaker 1: instead of drowning me, as was certainly his first intention,
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Speaker 1: he swam with me and laid me gently on the bank.
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Speaker 1: How imprudent you are he said, as he stood before me,
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Speaker 1: dripping with water. Why try to enter my house? I
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Speaker 1: never invited you. I don't want you there nor anybody.
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Speaker 1: Did you save my life only to make it unbearable
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Speaker 1: to me? However, great the service you rendered him, Eric
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Speaker 1: mey and by forgetting it. And you know that nothing
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Speaker 1: can restrain Eric, not even Eric himself, he spoke. But
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Speaker 1: I had now no other wish than to know what
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Speaker 1: I already called the trick of the Siren. He satisfied
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Speaker 1: my curiosity for Eric, who is a real monster. I
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Speaker 1: have seen him at work in Persia. Alas is also,
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Speaker 1: in certain respects a regular child, vain and self conceited.
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Speaker 1: And there is nothing he loved so much. After astonishing
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Speaker 1: people as to prove all the really miraculous ingenuity of
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Speaker 1: his mind, he laughed and showed me a long read.
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Speaker 1: It's the silliest trick you ever saw, he said, But
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Speaker 1: it's very useful for breathing and singing in the water.
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Speaker 1: I learned it from the Tonkin pirates, who are able
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Speaker 1: to remain hidden for hours in the beds of the rivers.
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Speaker 1: I spoke to him severely. It's a trick that nearly
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Speaker 1: killed me. I said, and it may have been fatal
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Speaker 1: to others. You know what you promised me, Eric, No
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Speaker 1: more murders. Have I really committed murders? He asked, putting
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Speaker 1: on his most amiable air. Wretched man, I cried, Have
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Speaker 1: you forgotten the rosy hours of Mazendaran, Yes, he replied,
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Speaker 1: in a sadder tone. I prefer to forget them. I
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Speaker 1: used to make the little Sultana laugh. Though. All that
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Speaker 1: belongs to the past, I declared. But there is the present,
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Speaker 1: and you are responsible to me for the present, because
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Speaker 1: if I had wished, there would have been none at all.
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Speaker 1: For you. Remember that, Eric, I saved your life. And
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Speaker 1: I took advantage of the turn of conversation to speak
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Speaker 1: to him of something that had long been on my mind. Eric,
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Speaker 1: I asked, Eric, swear that what? He retorted? You know,
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Speaker 1: I never keep my oaths. Oaths are made to catch
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Speaker 1: gulls with. Tell me you can tell me at any rate. Well, well,
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Speaker 1: the chandelier, the chandelier, Eric, what about the chandelier. You
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Speaker 1: know what I mean? Oh, he sniggered, I don't mind
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Speaker 1: telling you about the chandelier. It wasn't I The chandelier
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Speaker 1: was very old and worn when Eric laughed. He was
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Speaker 1: more terrible than ever. He jumped into the boat, chuckling
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Speaker 1: so horribly that I could not help trembling. Very old
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Speaker 1: and worn, my dear Darroga, very old and worn. The
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Speaker 1: chandelier it fell of itself. It came down with a smash.
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Speaker 1: And now de Roga, take my advice and go and
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Speaker 1: dry yourself, or you'll catch a cold in the head
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Speaker 1: and never get into my boat again. And whatever you do,
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Speaker 1: don't try to enter my house. I'm not always there, Doroga,
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Speaker 1: and I should be sorry to have to dedicate my
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Speaker 1: requie a mass to you, so saying, swinging to and
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Speaker 1: fro like a monkey, and still chuckling. He pushed off
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Speaker 1: and soon disappeared in the darkness of the lake. From
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Speaker 1: that day I gave up all thought of penetrating into
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Speaker 1: his house by the lake. That entrance was obviously too
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Speaker 1: well guarded, especially since he had learned that I knew
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Speaker 1: about it. But I felt that there must be another entrance,
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Speaker 1: for I had often seen Eric disappear in the third
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Speaker 1: cellar when I was watching him, though I could not
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Speaker 1: imagine how ever, since I had discovered Eric installed in
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Speaker 1: the opera, I lived in a perpetual terror of his
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Speaker 1: horrible fancies, not in so far as I was concerned,
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Speaker 1: but I dreaded everything for others, and whenever some accident,
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Speaker 1: some fatal event happened, I always thought to myself, I
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Speaker 1: should not be surprised if that were Eric. Even as
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Speaker 1: others used to say, it's the ghost, how often have
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Speaker 1: I not heard people utter that phrase with a smile.
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Speaker 1: Poor devils. If they had known that the ghost existed
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Speaker 1: in the flesh, I swear they would not have laughed.
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Speaker 1: Although Eric announced to me very solemnly that he had changed,
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Speaker 1: and that he had become the most virtuous of men,
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Speaker 1: since he was loved for himself, a sentence that at
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Speaker 1: first perplexed me most terribly. I could not help shuddering
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Speaker 1: when I thought of the monster. His horrible, unparalleled, and
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Speaker 1: repulsy ugliness put him without the pale of humanity, and
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Speaker 1: it often seemed to me that for this reason he
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Speaker 1: no longer believed that he had any duty toward the
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Speaker 1: human race. The way in which he spoke of his
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Speaker 1: love affairs only increased my alarm, for I foresaw the
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Speaker 1: cause of fresh and more hideous tragedies in this event
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Speaker 1: to which he alluded so boastfully. On the other hand,
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Speaker 1: I soon discovered the curious moral traffic established between the
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Speaker 1: monster and Christine. Day hiding in the lumber room next
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Speaker 1: to the young Prima Donna's dressing room, I listened to
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Speaker 1: wonderful musical displays that evidently flung Christine into marvelous ecstasy.
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Speaker 1: But all the same, I would never have thought that
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Speaker 1: Eric's voice, which was loud as thunder or soft as
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Speaker 1: angel's voices at will, could have made her forget his ugliness.
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Speaker 1: I understood all when I learned that Christine had not
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Speaker 1: yet seen him, I had occasion to go to the
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Speaker 1: dressing room, and, remembering the lessons he had once given me,
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Speaker 1: I had no difficulty in discovering the trick that made
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Speaker 1: the wall with the mirror swing round, and I ascertained
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Speaker 1: the means of hollow bricks and so on by which
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Speaker 1: he made his voice carry to Christine as though she
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Speaker 1: heard it close beside her. In this way also I
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Speaker 1: discovered the road that led to the well and the dungeon,
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Speaker 1: the Communist dungeon, and also the trap door that enabled
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Speaker 1: Erik to go straight to the cellars below the stage.
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Speaker 1: A few days later, what was not my amazement to
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Speaker 1: learn by my own eyes and ears that Eric and
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Speaker 1: Christine Day saw each other, and to catch the monster
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Speaker 1: stooping over the little well in the Communist's road and
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Speaker 1: sprinkling the forehead of Christine Day, who had fainted. A
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Speaker 1: white horse, the horse out of the Profetta, which I
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Speaker 1: had disappeared from the stables under the opera, was standing
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Speaker 1: quietly beside them. I showed myself it was terrible. I
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Speaker 1: saw sparks fly from those yellow eyes, and before I
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Speaker 1: had time to say a word, I received a blow
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Speaker 1: on the head that stunned me. When I came to myself, Eric,
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Speaker 1: Christine and the white horse had disappeared. I felt sure
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Speaker 1: that the poor girl was a prisoner in the house
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Speaker 1: on the lake. Without hesitation, I resolved to return to
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Speaker 1: the bank, notwithstanding the attendant danger. For twenty four hours
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Speaker 1: I lay in wait for the monster to appear, for
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Speaker 1: I felt that he must go out, driven by the
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Speaker 1: need of obtaining provisions. And in this connection I may
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Speaker 1: say that when he went out in the streets or
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Speaker 1: ventured to show himself in public, he wore a pasteboard
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Speaker 1: nose with a mustache attached to it instead of his
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Speaker 1: own horrible hoe of a nose. This did not quite
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Speaker 1: take away his corpselike air, but it made him almost
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Speaker 1: I say almost endurable to look at. I therefore watched
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Speaker 1: on the bank of the lake, and weary of long waiting,
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Speaker 1: was beginning to think that he had gone through the
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Speaker 1: other door, the door in the third cellar. When I
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Speaker 1: heard a slight splashing in the dark, I saw the
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Speaker 1: two yellow eyes shining like candles, and soon the boat
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Speaker 1: touched shore. Eric jumped out and walked up to me.
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Speaker 1: You've been here for twenty four hours, he said, and
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Speaker 1: you are annoying me. I tell you all this will
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Speaker 1: end the very badly, and you will have brought it
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Speaker 1: upon yourself, for I have been extraordinarily patient with you.
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Speaker 1: You think you are following me, you great booby, whereas
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Speaker 1: it's I who am following you, and I know all
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Speaker 1: that you know about me here I spared you yesterday
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Speaker 1: in my communist road. But I warn you seriously, don't
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Speaker 1: let me catch you there again. Upon my word. You
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Speaker 1: don't seem able to take a hint. He was so
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Speaker 1: furious that I did not think for the moment of
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Speaker 1: interrupting him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus. He
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Speaker 1: put his horrible thought into words. Yes, you must learn
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Speaker 1: once and for all, once and for all, I say
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Speaker 1: to take a hint. I tell you that with your recklessness,
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Speaker 1: for you have already been twice arrested by the shade
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Speaker 1: in the felt hat, who did not know what you
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Speaker 1: were doing in the cellars, and took you to the managers,
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Speaker 1: who looked upon you as an eccentric persian interested in
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Speaker 1: stage mechanism and life behind the scenes. I know all
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Speaker 1: about it. I was there in the office. You know
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Speaker 1: I am everywhere. Well. I tell you that, with your recklessness,
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Speaker 1: they will end by wondering what you are after here,
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Speaker 1: and they will end by knowing that you are after Eric,
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Speaker 1: and then they will be after Eric themselves, and they
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Speaker 1: will discover the house on the lake. If they do,
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Speaker 1: it will be a bad lookout for you, old Chap,
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Speaker 1: a bad lookout. I won't answer for anything again, he
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Speaker 1: puffed and blew like a walrus. I won't answer for anything.
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Speaker 1: If Eric's secret ceased to be Eric's secrets, it will
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Speaker 1: be a bad lookout for a goodly number of the
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Speaker 1: human race. That's all I have to tell you. And
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Speaker 1: unless you are a great booby, it ought to be
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Speaker 1: enough for you, except that you don't know how to
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Speaker 1: take a hint. He had sat down on the stern
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Speaker 1: of his boat and was kicking his heels against the planks,
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Speaker 1: waiting to hear what I had to answer. I simply said,
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Speaker 1: it's not Eric that I'm after here. Who then, you
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Speaker 1: know as well as I do. It's Christine Day, I answered.
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Speaker 1: He retort, I have every right to see her in
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Speaker 1: my own house. I am loved for my own sake.
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Speaker 1: That's not true, I said, you have carried her off
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Speaker 1: and are keeping her locked up. Listen, he said, will
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Speaker 1: you promise never to meddle with my affairs again? If
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Speaker 1: I prove to you that I am loved for my
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Speaker 1: own sake? Yes, I promise you, I replied, without hesitation,
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Speaker 1: for I felt convinced that for such a monster, the
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Speaker 1: proof was impossible. Well, then it's quite simple. Christine Day
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Speaker 1: shall leave this as she pleases and come back again. Yes,
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Speaker 1: come back again, because she wishes, come back of herself,
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Speaker 1: because she loves me for myself. Oh, I doubt if
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Speaker 1: she will come back, But it is your duty to
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Speaker 1: let her go. My duty, you great booby, It is
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Speaker 1: my wish my wish to let her go, and she
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Speaker 1: will come back again, for she loves me. All this
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Speaker 1: will end in a marriage, a marriage at the Madeleine.
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Speaker 1: You great booby, Do you believe me now when I
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Speaker 1: tell you that my nuptial mass is written? Wait till
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Speaker 1: you hear the kiri. He beat time with his heels
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Speaker 1: on the planks of the boat and sang currie, Kirie, Kirie, elisen,
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Speaker 1: Wait till you hear, Wait till you hear that mass.
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Speaker 1: Look here, I said, I shall believe you if I
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Speaker 1: see Christine Day come out of the house on the
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Speaker 1: Lake and go back to it of her own accord,
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Speaker 1: and you won't meddle any more in my affairs. No,
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Speaker 1: very well, you shall see that. To night, come to
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Speaker 1: the masked ball, Christine and I will go and have
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Speaker 1: a look around. Then you can hide in the lumber
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Speaker 1: room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone
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Speaker 1: to her dressing room, delighted to come back by the
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Speaker 1: communist's road. And now be off, for I must go
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Speaker 1: and do some shopping. To my intense astonishment, things happened
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Speaker 1: as he had announced. Christine Day left the House on
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Speaker 1: the Lake and returned to it several times. Without apparently
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Speaker 1: being forced to do so. It was very difficult for
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Speaker 1: me to clear my mind of Eric. However, I resolved
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Speaker 1: to be extremely prudent and did not make the mistake
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Speaker 1: of returning to the shore of the lake or of
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Speaker 1: going by the communist's road. But the idea of the
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Speaker 1: secret entrance in the third cellar haunted me, and I
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Speaker 1: repeatedly went and waited for hours behind a scene from
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Speaker 1: the roy de Lahore, which had been left there for
17:48
Speaker 1: some reason or other. At last, my patience was rewarded.
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Speaker 1: One day I saw the monster come toward me on
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Speaker 1: his knees. I was certain that he could not see me.
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Speaker 1: He passed between the sea behind which I stood at
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Speaker 1: a set piece, went to the wall and pressed on
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Speaker 1: a spring that moved a stone and afforded him an ingrass.
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Speaker 1: He passed through this, and the stone closed behind him.
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Speaker 1: I waited for at least thirty minutes, and then pressed
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Speaker 1: the spring in my turn. Everything happened as with Eric,
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Speaker 1: but I was careful not to go through the hole myself,
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Speaker 1: for I knew that Eric was inside. On the other hand,
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Speaker 1: the idea that I might be caught by Eric suddenly
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Speaker 1: made me think of the death of Joseph Bouquet. I
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Speaker 1: did not wish to jeopardize the advantages of so great
18:40
Speaker 1: a discovery, which might be useful to many people, to
18:44
Speaker 1: a goodly number of the human race, in Eric's words,
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Speaker 1: and I left the cellars of the opera after carefully
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Speaker 1: replacing the stone. I continued to be greatly interested in
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Speaker 1: the relations between Eric and Christine day, not from any
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Speaker 1: morbid curiosity, but because of the terrible thought which obsessed
19:05
Speaker 1: my mind that Eric was capable of anything if he
19:09
Speaker 1: once discovered that he was not loved for his own sake,
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Speaker 1: as he imagined. I continued to wander very cautiously about
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Speaker 1: the opera and soon learned the truth about the monster's
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Speaker 1: dreary love affair. He filled Christine's mind through the terror
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Speaker 1: with which he inspired her, But the dear child's heart
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Speaker 1: belonged wholly to the Vicomte Raoul de Chagni. While they
19:34
Speaker 1: played about like an innocent engaged couple on the upper
19:37
Speaker 1: floors of the opera to avoid the monster, they little
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Speaker 1: suspected that some one was watching over them. I was
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Speaker 1: prepared to do anything to kill the monster if necessary,
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Speaker 1: and explained to the police afterward, but Eric did not
19:53
Speaker 1: show himself, and I felt none the more comfortable. For that.
19:58
Speaker 1: I must explain my whole plan. I thought that the monster,
20:03
Speaker 1: being driven from his house by jealousy, would thus enable
20:07
Speaker 1: me to enter it without danger through the passage in
20:10
Speaker 1: the third cellar. It was important for everybody's sake that
20:15
Speaker 1: I should know exactly what was inside. One day, tired
20:20
Speaker 1: of waiting for an opportunity, I moved the stone and
20:24
Speaker 1: at once heard an astounding music. The monster was working
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Speaker 1: at his Don Juan triumphant, with every door in his
20:32
Speaker 1: house wide open. I knew that this was the work
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Speaker 1: of his life. I was careful not to stir, and
20:39
Speaker 1: remained prudently in my dark hole. He stopped playing for
20:44
Speaker 1: a moment and began walking about his place like a madman,
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Speaker 1: and he said aloud at the top of his voice,
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Speaker 1: it must be finished first, quite finished. This speech was
20:57
Speaker 1: not calculated to reassure me, and when the music recommenced,
21:01
Speaker 1: I closed the stone very softly. On the day of
21:06
Speaker 1: the Abduction of Christine Day, I did not come to
21:10
Speaker 1: the theater until rather late in the evening, trembling lest
21:14
Speaker 1: I should hear bad news. I had spent a horrible
21:18
Speaker 1: day for after reading in a morning paper the announcement
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Speaker 1: of a forthcoming marriage between Christine and the Vicomte de Chenille,
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Speaker 1: I wondered whether, after all, I should not do better
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Speaker 1: to denounce the monster. But reason returned me, and I
21:34
Speaker 1: was persuaded that this action could only precipitate a possible catastrophe.
21:40
Speaker 1: When my cab set me down before the opera, I
21:44
Speaker 1: was really almost astonished to see it still standing. But
21:48
Speaker 1: I am something of a fatalist, like all good Orientals,
21:52
Speaker 1: and I entered ready for anything. Christine Day's abduction in
21:56
Speaker 1: the Prison Act, which naturally surprised everybody, found me prepared.
22:02
Speaker 1: I was quite certain that she had been juggled away
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Speaker 1: by Eric, that Prince of Conjurors, and I thought positively
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Speaker 1: that this was the end of Christine, and perhaps of everybody,
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Speaker 1: so much so that I thought of advising all these
22:16
Speaker 1: people who were staying on at the theater to make
22:19
Speaker 1: good their escape. I felt, however, that they would be
22:23
Speaker 1: sure to look upon me as mad, and I refrained.
22:27
Speaker 1: On the other hand, I resolved to act without further delay.
22:31
Speaker 1: As far as I was concerned, the chances were in
22:34
Speaker 1: my favor that Eric, at that moment was thinking only
22:38
Speaker 1: of his captive. This was the moment to enter his
22:41
Speaker 1: house through the third cellar, and I resolved to take
22:45
Speaker 1: with me that poor, little desperate viscount, who, at the
22:48
Speaker 1: first suggestion accepted with an amount of confidence in myself
22:53
Speaker 1: that touched me profoundly. I had sent my servant for
22:57
Speaker 1: my pistols. I gave one to the Viscount and advised
23:01
Speaker 1: him to hold himself ready to fire, for after all,
23:04
Speaker 1: Eric might be waiting for us behind the wall. We
23:08
Speaker 1: were to go by the Communists road and through the
23:11
Speaker 1: trap door. Seeing my pistols, the little Viscount asked me
23:16
Speaker 1: if we were going to fight a duel. I said yes,
23:20
Speaker 1: and what a duel. But of course I had no
23:23
Speaker 1: time to explain anything to him. The little Viscount is
23:27
Speaker 1: a brave fellow, but he knew hardly anything about his adversary.
23:31
Speaker 1: And it was so much the better. My great fear
23:35
Speaker 1: was that he was already somewhere nearest preparing the punjab laso.
23:41
Speaker 1: No one knows better than he how to throw the
23:44
Speaker 1: punjab laso, for he is the king of stranglers, even
23:48
Speaker 1: as he is the prince of conjurers. When he had
23:51
Speaker 1: finished making the little Sultana laugh. At the time of
23:55
Speaker 1: the Rosy hours of Mazenderan, she herself used to ask
23:59
Speaker 1: him to amuse her by giving her a thrill. It
24:02
Speaker 1: was then that he introduced the sport of the punjab laso.
24:07
Speaker 1: He had lived in India and acquired an incredible skill
24:12
Speaker 1: in the art of strangulation. He would make them lock
24:15
Speaker 1: him into a courtyard, to which they brought a warrior,
24:18
Speaker 1: usually a man condemned to death, armed with a long
24:22
Speaker 1: pike and broadsword. Eric had only his laso, and it
24:27
Speaker 1: was always just when the warrior thought that he was
24:30
Speaker 1: going to fell Eric with a tremendous blow, that we
24:33
Speaker 1: heard the laso whistle through the air. With a turn
24:36
Speaker 1: of the wrist, Eric tightened the noose round his adversary's neck,
24:40
Speaker 1: and in this fashion dragged him before the little Sultana
24:44
Speaker 1: and her women, who sat looking from a window and
24:47
Speaker 1: a plodding. The little Sultana herself learned to wield the
24:51
Speaker 1: punjab lazo and killed several of her women and even
24:55
Speaker 1: of the friends who visited her. But I prefer to
24:59
Speaker 1: drop this t terrible subject of the Rosy hours of Mazenderin.
25:03
Speaker 1: I have mentioned it only to explain why, on arriving
25:07
Speaker 1: with the Vicomte de Chonie in the cellars of the opera,
25:11
Speaker 1: I was bound to protect my companion against the ever
25:14
Speaker 1: threatening danger of death by strangling my pistols could serve
25:19
Speaker 1: no purpose, for Eric was not likely to show himself,
25:23
Speaker 1: but Eric could always strangle us. I had no time
25:27
Speaker 1: to explain all this to the Viscount. Besides, there was
25:30
Speaker 1: nothing to be gained by complicating the position. I simply
25:34
Speaker 1: told Monsieur de Chonnie to keep his hand at the
25:37
Speaker 1: level of his eyes, with the arm bent, as though
25:40
Speaker 1: waiting for the command to fire with his victim. In
25:44
Speaker 1: this attitude, it is impossible even for the most expert
25:49
Speaker 1: strangler to throw the lasso with advantage. It catches you
25:53
Speaker 1: not only round the neck, but also round the arm
25:56
Speaker 1: or hand. This enabled you easily to unloose the lasso,
26:00
Speaker 1: which then becomes harmless. After avoiding the Commissary of Police,
26:06
Speaker 1: a number of door shutters and the firemen, after meeting
26:09
Speaker 1: the ratcatcher and passing the man in the felt hat unperceived,
26:14
Speaker 1: the Viscount and I arrived without obstacle in the third
26:18
Speaker 1: cellar between the set pieces and the scene from the
26:21
Speaker 1: roy de Lahore. I worked the stone, and we jumped
26:25
Speaker 1: into the house, which Eric had built himself in the
26:28
Speaker 1: double case of the foundation walls of the opera. And
26:32
Speaker 1: this was the easiest thing in the world for him
26:34
Speaker 1: to do, because Eric was one of the chief contractors
26:38
Speaker 1: under Felipe Garnier, the architect of the opera, and continued
26:42
Speaker 1: to work by himself when the works were officially suspended
26:46
Speaker 1: during the war, the siege of Paris and the Commune.
26:50
Speaker 1: I knew my Eric too well to feel at all
26:53
Speaker 1: comfortable on jumping into his house. I knew what he
26:56
Speaker 1: had made of a certain palace at Mazideran. From being
27:00
Speaker 1: the most honest building conceivable, he soon turned it into
27:04
Speaker 1: a house of the very devil, where you could not
27:07
Speaker 1: utter a word, but it was overheard or repeated by
27:10
Speaker 1: an echo with his trapped doors. The monster was responsible
27:15
Speaker 1: for endless tragedies of all kinds. He hit upon astonishing inventions.
27:20
Speaker 1: Of these, the most curious, horrible, and dangerous was the
27:24
Speaker 1: so called torture chamber. Except in special cases when the
27:29
Speaker 1: little Sultana amused herself by inflicting suffering upon some unoffending citizen,
27:35
Speaker 1: no one was let into it but wretches condemned to death.
27:39
Speaker 1: And even then, when these had had enough, they were
27:42
Speaker 1: always at liberty to put an end to themselves with
27:45
Speaker 1: a punjab, lasso or bowstring left for their use at
27:49
Speaker 1: the foot of an iron tree. My alarm therefore was
27:54
Speaker 1: great when I saw that the room into which Monsieur
27:57
Speaker 1: lay Vicomte Dechgni and I had dropped was an exact
28:01
Speaker 1: copy of the torture chamber of the Rosy Hours of Mazendron.
28:06
Speaker 1: At our feet I found the punjab lazo, which I
28:09
Speaker 1: had been dreading all the evening. I was convinced that
28:13
Speaker 1: this rope had already done duty for Joseph Bouquet, who,
28:17
Speaker 1: like myself, must have caught Eric one evening working the
28:21
Speaker 1: stone in the third cellar. He probably tried it in
28:25
Speaker 1: his turn, fell into the torture chamber, and only left
28:28
Speaker 1: it hanged. I can well imagine Eric dragging the body,
28:32
Speaker 1: in order to get rid of it, to the scene
28:35
Speaker 1: from the Roi de Lahore, and hanging it there as
28:38
Speaker 1: an example, or to increase the superstitious terror that was
28:42
Speaker 1: to help him in guarding the approaches to his lair. Then,
28:46
Speaker 1: upon reflection, Eric went back to fetch the Punjab lasso,
28:51
Speaker 1: which is very curiously made out of catgat, and which
28:54
Speaker 1: might have set an examining magistrate thinking this explains the
28:59
Speaker 1: disappearyrance of the rope. And now I discovered the lazo
29:03
Speaker 1: at our feet in the torture chamber. I am no coward,
29:08
Speaker 1: but a cold sweat covered my forehead as I moved
29:11
Speaker 1: my little red disc of my lantern over the walls.
29:15
Speaker 1: Monsieur de Chonni noticed it and asked, what is the matter, Sir.
29:20
Speaker 1: I made him a violent sign to be silent. End
29:26
Speaker 1: of Chapter twenty one