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The Phantom of the Opera Chapter XVII - The Safety-Pin Again · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LaRue,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Alexander t Zera Domatos. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. Chapter seventeen the safety pin. Again
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin's last phrase so dearly expressed the suspicion in which
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  Speaker 1: he now held his partner, that it was bound to
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  Speaker 1: cause a stormy explanation at the end of which it
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  Speaker 1: was agreed that Richard should yield to all Moncharmin's wishes,
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  Speaker 1: with the object of helping him to discover the miscreant
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  Speaker 1: who was victimizing them. This brings us to the interval
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  Speaker 1: after the Garden Act, with this strange conduct observed by
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur Remi, and those curious lapses from the dignity that
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  Speaker 1: might be expected of the managers, it was arranged between
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  Speaker 1: Richard and Moncharmin, first that Richard should repeat the exact
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  Speaker 1: movements which he had made on the night of the
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  Speaker 1: disappearance of the first twenty thousand francs, and second that
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin should not for an instant loose sight of Richard's
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  Speaker 1: coat tailed pocket into which Madame Gerie was to slip
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  Speaker 1: the twenty thousand francs. Monsieur Richard went and placed himself
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  Speaker 1: at the identical spot where he had stood when he
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  Speaker 1: bowed to the under Secretary for Fine Arts. Monsieur Moncharmin
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  Speaker 1: took up his position a few steps behind him. Madame
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  Speaker 1: Gerie passed, rubbed up against Monsieur Richard, got rid of
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  Speaker 1: her twenty thousand francs in the manager's coattail pocket, and disappeared,
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  Speaker 1: or rather she was conjured away in accordance with the
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  Speaker 1: instructions received from Moncharmin a few minutes earlier, Mercier took
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  Speaker 1: the good lady to the acting manager's office and turned
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  Speaker 1: the key on her, thus making it impossible for her
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  Speaker 1: to communicate with her ghost. Meanwhile, Monsieur Richard was bending
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  Speaker 1: and bowing and scraping and walking backward, just as if
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  Speaker 1: he had that high and mighty minister, the under Secretary
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  Speaker 1: for Fine Arts before him. Only though these marks of
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  Speaker 1: politeness would have created no astonishment if the under Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of State had really been in front of Monsieur Richard,
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  Speaker 1: they caused an easily comprehensible amazement to the spectators of
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  Speaker 1: this very natural, but quite inexplicable scene. When Monsieur Richard
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  Speaker 1: had nobody in front of him, Monsieur Richard bowed to nobody,
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  Speaker 1: bent his back before nobody, and walked backward before nobody,
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  Speaker 1: and a few steps behind him, Monsieur Moncharmin did the
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  Speaker 1: same thing that he was doing, in addition to pushing
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  Speaker 1: away Monsieur Remy and begging Monsieur de la Borderi, the
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  Speaker 1: Ambassador and the manager of the Credit Central, not to
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  Speaker 1: touch Monsieur lay Directuur Moncharmin, who had his own ideas,
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  Speaker 1: did not want Richard to come to him presently when
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  Speaker 1: the twenty thousand francs were gone and say perhaps it
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  Speaker 1: was the ambassador or the manager of the Credit Central
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  Speaker 1: or Remy. The more so as at the time of
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  Speaker 1: the first scene, as Richard himself admitted, Richard had met
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  Speaker 1: nobody in that part of the theater after Madame Jerie
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  Speaker 1: had brushed up against him. Having begun by walking backward
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  Speaker 1: in order to bow, Richard continued to do so from
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  Speaker 1: Prudence until he reached the passage leading to the offices
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  Speaker 1: of the management. In this way he was constantly watched
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  Speaker 1: by Moncharmin from behind, and himself kept an eye on
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  Speaker 1: any one approaching from the front. Once more, this novel
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  Speaker 1: method of walking behind the scenes adopted by the managers
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  Speaker 1: of our National Academy of Music attracted attention, but the
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  Speaker 1: managers themselves thought of nothing but their twenty thousand francs.
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  Speaker 1: On reaching the half dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin
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  Speaker 1: in a low voice, I am sure that nobody has
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  Speaker 1: touched me. You had now better keep at some distance
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  Speaker 1: from me and watch me till I come to the
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  Speaker 1: door of the office. It is better not to arouse
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  Speaker 1: suspicion and we can see anything that happens. But Moncharmin replied, no, Richard, No,
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  Speaker 1: you walk ahead, and I'll walk immediately behind you. I
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  Speaker 1: won't leave you by a step. But in that case,
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  Speaker 1: exclaimed Richard, they will never steal our twenty thousand francs.
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  Speaker 1: I should hope not, indeed, declared Moncharmin. Then what we
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  Speaker 1: are doing is absurd. We are doing exactly what we
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  Speaker 1: did last time. Last time, I joined you as you
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  Speaker 1: were leaving the stage and followed close behind you down
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  Speaker 1: this passage. That's true, sighed Richard, shaking his head and
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  Speaker 1: passively obeying Moncharmin. Two minutes later, the joint managers locked
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  Speaker 1: themselves into their office. Moncharmin himself put the key in
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  Speaker 1: his pocket. We've remained locked up like this last time,
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  Speaker 1: he said, until you left the opera to go home.
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  Speaker 1: That's so no one came and disturbed us. I suppose
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  Speaker 1: no one, then, said Richard, who was trying to collect
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  Speaker 1: his memory. Then I must certainly have been robbed on
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  Speaker 1: my way home from the opera. No, said Moncharmin, in
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  Speaker 1: a drier tone than ever. No, that's impossible. For I
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  Speaker 1: dropped you in my cab. That twenty thousand francs disappeared
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  Speaker 1: at your place, there's not a shadow of a doubt
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  Speaker 1: about that. It's incredible, protested Richard. I am sure of
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  Speaker 1: my servants, and if one of them had done it,
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  Speaker 1: he would have disappeared. Since Moncharmin shrugged his shoulders as
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  Speaker 1: though to say that he did not wish to enter
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  Speaker 1: into details, and Richard began to think that Moncharmin was
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  Speaker 1: treating him in a very insupportable fashion. Moncharmin, I've had
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  Speaker 1: enough of this, Richard, I've had too much of it.
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  Speaker 1: Do you dare to suspect me? Yes, of a silly joke.
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  Speaker 1: One doesn't joke with twenty thousand francs. That's what I think,
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  Speaker 1: declared Moncharmin unfolding the newspaper and ostentatiously studying its contents.
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  Speaker 1: What are you doing, asked Richard. Are you going to
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  Speaker 1: read the paper next? Yes, Richard, until I take you
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  Speaker 1: home like last time. Yes, like last time. Richard snatched
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  Speaker 1: the paper from Moncharmin's hands. Moncharmin stood up, more irritated
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  Speaker 1: than ever, and found himself faced by an exasperated Richard, who,
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  Speaker 1: crossing his arms on his chest, said, look here, I'm
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  Speaker 1: thinking of this. I'm thinking of what I might think if,
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  Speaker 1: like last time, after my spending the evening alone with you,
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  Speaker 1: you brought me home, and if, at the moment of
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  Speaker 1: parting I perceived that twenty thousand francs had disappeared from
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  Speaker 1: my coat pocket like last time, And what might you think,
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  Speaker 1: asked Moncharmin Crimson with rage. I might think that, as
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  Speaker 1: you hadn't left me by a foot's breadth, and as
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  Speaker 1: by your own wish, you were the only one to
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  Speaker 1: approach me like last time, I might think that if
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  Speaker 1: that twenty thousand francs was no longer in my pocket,
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  Speaker 1: it stood a very good chance of being in yours.
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin leaped up at the suggestion. Oh, he shouted, a
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  Speaker 1: safety pin. What do you want a safety pin for?
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  Speaker 1: To fasten you up with a safety pin? A safety pin?
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  Speaker 1: You want to fasten me with a safety pin? Yes,
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  Speaker 1: to fasten you to the twenty thousand francs. Then, whether
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  Speaker 1: it's here or on the drive from here to your place,
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  Speaker 1: or at your place, you will feel the hand that
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  Speaker 1: pulls at your pocket and you will see if it's mine. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: so you're suspecting me? Now are you a safety pin?
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  Speaker 1: And that was the moment when Moncharmin opened the door
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  Speaker 1: on the passage and shouted, a safety pin. Somebody give
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  Speaker 1: me a safety pin. And we also know how. At
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  Speaker 1: the same moment, Remy, who had no safety pin, was
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  Speaker 1: received by Moncharmin, while a boy procured the pin so
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  Speaker 1: eagerly longed for. And what happened was this. Moncharmin first
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  Speaker 1: locked the door again. Then he knelt down behind Richard's back.
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  Speaker 1: I hope he said that the notes are still there,
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  Speaker 1: So do I said Richard, the real ones, asked Moncharmin,
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  Speaker 1: resolved not to be had this time. Look for yourself,
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  Speaker 1: said Richard. I refuse to touch them. Moncharmin took the
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  Speaker 1: envelope from Richard's pocket and drew out the bank notes
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  Speaker 1: with a trembling hand. For this time, in order frequently
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  Speaker 1: to make sure of the presence of the notes, he
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  Speaker 1: had not sealed the envelope, nor even fastened it. He
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  Speaker 1: felt reassured on finding that they were all there and
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  Speaker 1: quite genuine, he put them back in the tail pocket
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  Speaker 1: and pinned them with great care. Then he sat down
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  Speaker 1: behind Richard's coat tails and kept his eyes fixed on them,
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  Speaker 1: while Richard, sitting at his writing table, did not stir
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  Speaker 1: a little patience, Richard said, Moncharmin, we have only a
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  Speaker 1: few minutes to wait. The clock will soon strike twelve.
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  Speaker 1: Last time we left at the last stroke of twelve. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: I shall have all the patience necessary. The time passed slow, heavy, mysterious, stifling.
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  Speaker 1: Richard tried to laugh. I shall end by be leaving
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  Speaker 1: in the omnipotence of the ghost, he said, Just now,
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  Speaker 1: don't you find something uncomfortable, disquieting, alarming in the atmosphere
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  Speaker 1: of this room. You're quite right, said Moncharmin, who was
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  Speaker 1: really impressed the ghost, continued Richard in a low voice,
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  Speaker 1: as though fearing lest he should be overheard by invisible ears.
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  Speaker 1: The ghost suppose all the same, it were a ghost,
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  Speaker 1: who puts the magic envelopes on the table, who talks
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  Speaker 1: in box five, who killed Joseph Bouquet, who unhooked the chandelier,
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  Speaker 1: and who robs us for after all, after all, after all,
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  Speaker 1: there is no one here except you and me. And
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  Speaker 1: if the notes disappear and neither you nor I have
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  Speaker 1: anything to do with it, well we shall have to
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  Speaker 1: be leave in the ghost, in the ghost. At that moment,
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  Speaker 1: the clock on the mantelpiece gave its warning click, and
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  Speaker 1: the first stroke of twelve struck. The two managers shuddered.
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  Speaker 1: The perspiration streamed from their foreheads. The twelfth stroke sounded
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  Speaker 1: strangely in their ears. When the clock stopped, they gave
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  Speaker 1: a sigh and rose from their chairs. I think we
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  Speaker 1: can go now, said Moncharmin. I think so, Richard agreed.
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  Speaker 1: Before we go, do you mind if I look in
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  Speaker 1: your pocket? But of course, Moncharmin, you must well, he asked,
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  Speaker 1: as Moncharmin was feeling at the pocket. Well, I can
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  Speaker 1: feel the pin, of course, as you said, we can't
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  Speaker 1: be robbed without noticing it. But Moncharmin, whose hands were
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  Speaker 1: still fumbling, bellowed, I can feel the pin, but I
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  Speaker 1: can't feel the notes come. No joking, Moncharmin, this isn't
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  Speaker 1: the time for it. Well feel for yourself. Richard tore
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  Speaker 1: off his coat. The two managers turned the pocket inside out.
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  Speaker 1: The pocket was empty, and the curious thing was that
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  Speaker 1: the pin remained stuck in the same place. Richard and
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin turned pale. There was no longer any doubt about
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  Speaker 1: the witchcraft, the ghost, muttered Moncharmin. But Richard suddenly sprang
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  Speaker 1: upon his partner, no one but you has touched my pocket.
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  Speaker 1: Give me back my twenty thousand francs. Give me back
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  Speaker 1: my twenty thousand francs. Oh my soul, sighed Moncharmin, who
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  Speaker 1: was ready to swoon on my soul. I swear that
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  Speaker 1: I haven't got it. Then somebody knocked at the door.
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  Speaker 1: Moncharmin opened it automatically, seemed hardly to recognize Mercye. His
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  Speaker 1: business manager, exchanged a few words with him without knowing
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  Speaker 1: what he was saying, and with an unconscious movement, put
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  Speaker 1: the safety pin, for which he had no further use,
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  Speaker 1: into the hands of his bewildered subordinate. End of chapter
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  Speaker 1: seven two