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The Phantom of the Opera Chapter XX - In the Cellars of the Opera · The Gaston Leroux Library

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston LaRue,
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  Speaker 1: translated by Alexander Tazara Dematos. This LibriVox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. Chapter twenty in the Cellars of the Opera,
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  Speaker 1: Your hand high ready to fire, repeated Raoul's companion. Quickly,
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  Speaker 1: the wall behind them, having completed the circle which it
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  Speaker 1: described upon itself, closed again, and the two men stood
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  Speaker 1: motionless for a moment, holding their breath. At last, the
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  Speaker 1: Persian decided to make a movement, and Raoul heard him
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  Speaker 1: slip on his knees and feel for something in the
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  Speaker 1: dark with his groping hands. Suddenly, the darkness was made
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  Speaker 1: visible by a small dark lantern, and Raoul instinctively stepped backward,
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  Speaker 1: as though to escape the scrutiny of a secret enemy.
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  Speaker 1: But he soon perceived that the light belonged to the Persian,
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  Speaker 1: whose movements he was closely observing. The little red disk
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  Speaker 1: was turned in every direction, and Raoul saw that the floor,
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  Speaker 1: the walls, and the ceiling were all formed of planking.
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  Speaker 1: It must have been the ordinary road taken by Eric
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  Speaker 1: to reach Christine's dressing room and impose upon her innocence,
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  Speaker 1: and Raoul remembering the Persian's remark, thought that it had
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  Speaker 1: been mysteriously constructed by the ghost himself. Later he learned
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  Speaker 1: that Eric had found all prepared for him a secret
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  Speaker 1: passage long known to himself alone, and contrived at the
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  Speaker 1: time of the Paris Commune to allow the jailers to
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  Speaker 1: convey their prisoners straight to the dungeons that had been
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  Speaker 1: constructed for them in the cellars. For the Federates had
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  Speaker 1: occupied the Opera house immediately after the eighteenth of March,
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  Speaker 1: and had made a starting place right at the top
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  Speaker 1: for their Mongolfier balloons, which carried their incendiary proclamations to
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  Speaker 1: the departments, and a state prison right at the bottom.
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  Speaker 1: The Persian went on his knees and put his lantern
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  Speaker 1: on the ground. He seemed to be working at the floor,
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  Speaker 1: and suddenly he turned off his light. Then Raoul heard
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  Speaker 1: a faint click and saw a very pale, luminous square
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  Speaker 1: in the floor of the passage. It was as though
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  Speaker 1: a window had opened on the opera cellars, which were
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  Speaker 1: still lit. Raoul no longer saw the Persian, but he
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  Speaker 1: suddenly felt him by his side, and heard him whisper,
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  Speaker 1: follow me and do all that I do. Raoul turned
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  Speaker 1: to the luminous aperture. Then he saw the Persian, who
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  Speaker 1: was still on his knees, hang by his hands from
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  Speaker 1: the rim of the opening with his pistol between his teeth,
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  Speaker 1: and slide into the cellar below. Curiously enough, the Viscount
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  Speaker 1: had absolute confidence in the Persian, though he knew nothing
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  Speaker 1: about him. His emotion when speaking of the monster struck
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  Speaker 1: him as sincere, and if the Persian had cherished any
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  Speaker 1: sinister designs against him, he would not have armed him
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  Speaker 1: with his own hands. Besides, Raoul must reach Christine at
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  Speaker 1: all costs. He therefore went on his knees also and
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  Speaker 1: hung from the trap with both hands. Let go, said
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  Speaker 1: a voice, and he dropped into the arms of the Persian,
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  Speaker 1: who told him to lie down flat, closed the trap
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  Speaker 1: door above him, and crouchs down beside him. Raoul tried
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  Speaker 1: to ask a question, but the Persian's hand was on
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  Speaker 1: his mouth, and he heard a voice which he recognized
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  Speaker 1: as that of the Commissary of Police. Raoul and the
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  Speaker 1: Persian were completely hidden behind a wooden partition. Near them,
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  Speaker 1: a small staircase led to a little room in which
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  Speaker 1: the Commissary appeared to be walking up and down, asking questions.
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  Speaker 1: The faint light was just enough to enable Raoul to
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  Speaker 1: distinguish the shape of things around him, and he could
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  Speaker 1: not restrain a dull cry. There were three corpses there.
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  Speaker 1: The first lay on the narrow landing of the little staircase.
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  Speaker 1: The two others had rolled to the bottom of the staircase.
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  Speaker 1: Raoul could have touched one of the two poor wretches
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  Speaker 1: by passing his fingers through the partition. Silence whispered the Persian.
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  Speaker 1: He too had seen the bodies, and he gave one
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  Speaker 1: word in explanation. He the Commissary's voice was now heard
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  Speaker 1: more distinctly. He was asking for information about the system
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  Speaker 1: of lighting which the stage manager supplied. The commissary therefore,
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  Speaker 1: must be in the organ or its immediate neighborhood. Contrary
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  Speaker 1: to what one might think, especially in connection with an
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  Speaker 1: opera house, the organ is not a musical instrument. At
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  Speaker 1: that time, electricity was employed only for a very few
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  Speaker 1: scenic effects and for the bells. The immense building and
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  Speaker 1: the stage itself were still lit by gas. Hydrogen was
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  Speaker 1: used to regulate and modify the lighting of a scene,
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  Speaker 1: and this was done by means of a special apparatus,
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  Speaker 1: which because of the multiplicity of its pipes, was known
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  Speaker 1: as the organ. A box beside the prompter's box was
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  Speaker 1: reserved for the chief gas man, who from there gave
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  Speaker 1: his orders to his assistants and saw that they were executed.
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  Speaker 1: Montclair stayed in this box during all the performances. But
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  Speaker 1: now Mauclair was not in his box, and his assistance
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  Speaker 1: not in their places. Mouclair, mouclaire. The stage manager's voice
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  Speaker 1: echoed through the cellars, but Montclair did not reply. I
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  Speaker 1: have said that a door opened on a little staircase
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  Speaker 1: that led to the second cellar. The commissary pushed it,
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  Speaker 1: but it resisted, I say, He said to the stage manager,
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  Speaker 1: I can't open this door. Is it always so difficult?
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  Speaker 1: The stage manager forced it open with his shoulder. He
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  Speaker 1: saw that at the same time he was pushing a
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  Speaker 1: human body, and he could not keep back an exclamation,
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  Speaker 1: for he recognized the body at once. Monclair, poor devil,
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  Speaker 1: he is dead. But mister Commissary mi freud, whom nothing surprised,
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  Speaker 1: was stooping over that big body. No, he said, he
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  Speaker 1: is dead drunk, which is not quite the same thing.
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  Speaker 1: It's the first time, if so said the stage manager.
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  Speaker 1: Then some one has given him a narcotic. That is
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  Speaker 1: quite possible. Mi Freyd went down a few steps and said,
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  Speaker 1: look the light of a little red lantern. At the
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  Speaker 1: foot of the stairs. They saw two other bodies. The
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  Speaker 1: stage manager recognized Mouclair's assistants. Mifreud went down and listened
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  Speaker 1: to their breathing. They are sound asleep, He said, very
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  Speaker 1: curious business. Some person unknown must have interfered with the
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  Speaker 1: gas man and his staff, and that person unknown was
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  Speaker 1: obviously working on behalf of the kidnapper. But what a
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  Speaker 1: funny idea to kidnap a performer on the stage. Send
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  Speaker 1: for the doctor of the theater, please, and Mifreud repeated, curious,
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  Speaker 1: decidedly curious business. Then he turned to the little room,
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  Speaker 1: addressing the people, whom Raoul and the Persian were unable
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  Speaker 1: to see from where they lay. What do you say
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  Speaker 1: to all this, gentlemen? You are the only ones who
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  Speaker 1: have not given your views, and yet you must have
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  Speaker 1: an opinion of some sort. Thereupon Raoul and the Persians
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  Speaker 1: saw the startled faces of the joint managers appear above
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  Speaker 1: the landing, and they heard Moncharmin's excited voice there are
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  Speaker 1: things happening here, mister commissary, which we are unable to explain,
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  Speaker 1: and the two faces disappeared. Thank you for the information, gentlemen,
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  Speaker 1: said Mi Froyd with a jeer. But the stage manager,
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  Speaker 1: holding his chin in the hollow of V's right hand,
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  Speaker 1: which is the attitude of profound thought, said it is
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  Speaker 1: not the first time that Montclair has fallen asleep in
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  Speaker 1: the theater. I remember finding him one evening, snoring in
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  Speaker 1: his little recess, with his snuff box beside him. Is
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  Speaker 1: that long ago, asked Monsieur mi Freud, carefully wiping his
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  Speaker 1: eye glasses. No, not so very long ago. Wait a bit,
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  Speaker 1: It was the night, of course. Yes, it was the
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  Speaker 1: night when Carlotti, you know, mister commissary gave her famous kouak.
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  Speaker 1: Really the night when Carlotte gave her famous koak. And
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  Speaker 1: Monsieur mi Froyd, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose,
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  Speaker 1: fixed the stage manager with a contemplative stare. So Montclair
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  Speaker 1: takes snuff, does he, he asked carelessly, Yes, mister commissary.
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  Speaker 1: Look there is his snuff box on that little shelf.
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  Speaker 1: Oh he's a great snuff taker, so am I said
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  Speaker 1: mi froy, and put the snuff box in his pocket.
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  Speaker 1: Raoul and the Persian, themselves, unobserved, watched the removal of
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  Speaker 1: the three bodies by a number of scene shifters, who
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  Speaker 1: were followed by the Commissary and all the people with him.
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  Speaker 1: Their steps were heard for a few minutes on the
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  Speaker 1: stage above. When they were alone, the Persian made a
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  Speaker 1: sign to Raoul to stand up. Raoul did so, but
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  Speaker 1: as he did not lift his hand in front of
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  Speaker 1: his eyes ready to fire, the Persian told him to
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  Speaker 1: resume that attitude and to continue it whatever happened. But
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  Speaker 1: it tires the hand unnecessarily, whispered Raoul. If I do fire,
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  Speaker 1: I sha'n't be sure of my aim. Then shift your
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  Speaker 1: pistol to the other hand, said the Persian, I can't
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  Speaker 1: shoot with my left hand. Thereupon the Persian made this
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  Speaker 1: queer reply, which was certainly not calculated to throw light
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  Speaker 1: into the young man's flurried brain. It's not a question
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  Speaker 1: of shooting with the right hand or the left. It's
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  Speaker 1: a question of holding one of your hands as though
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  Speaker 1: you were going to pull the trigger of a pistol
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  Speaker 1: with your arm bent. As for the pistol, itself. When
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  Speaker 1: all is said, you can put that in your pocket,
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  Speaker 1: and he added, let this be clearly understood, or I
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  Speaker 1: will answer for nothing. It is a matter of life
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  Speaker 1: and death. And now silence and follow me. The cellars
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  Speaker 1: of the opera are enormous, and they are five in number.
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  Speaker 1: Raoul followed the Persian and wondered what he would have
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  Speaker 1: done without his companion in that extraordinary labyrinth. They went
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  Speaker 1: down to the third cellar, and their progress was still
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  Speaker 1: lit by some distant lamp. The lower they went, the
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  Speaker 1: more precautions the Persians seemed to take. He kept on
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  Speaker 1: turning to Raoul to see if he was holding his
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  Speaker 1: arm properly, showing him how he himself carried his hand
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  Speaker 1: as if always ready to fire, though the pistol was
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  Speaker 1: in his pocket. Suddenly, a loud voice made them stop.
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  Speaker 1: Someone above them shouted, all the door shutters on the stage,
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  Speaker 1: the Commissary of police wants them. Steps were heard, and
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  Speaker 1: shadows glided through the darkness. The Persian drew Raoul behind
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  Speaker 1: a set piece they saw passing before them, and above them,
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  Speaker 1: old men bent by age in the past, burden of
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  Speaker 1: opera scenery, some could hardly drag themselves along others from
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  Speaker 1: habit with stooping bodies and outstretched hands, looked for doors
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  Speaker 1: to shut. They were the door shutters, the old worn
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  Speaker 1: out scene shifters on whom a charitable management had taken pity,
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  Speaker 1: giving them the job of shutting doors above and below
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  Speaker 1: the stage. They went about incessantly from top to bottom
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  Speaker 1: of the building, shutting the doors. And they were also
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  Speaker 1: called the draft expellers, at least at that time, for
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  Speaker 1: I have little doubt that by now they are all dead.
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  Speaker 1: Drafts are very bad for the voice. Wherever they may
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  Speaker 1: come from. The two men might have stumbled over them,
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  Speaker 1: waking them up and provoking a request for explanations. For
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  Speaker 1: the moment, Monsieur Mifreud's inquiry saved them from any such
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  Speaker 1: unpleasant encounters. The Persian and Raoul welcomed this incident, which
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  Speaker 1: relieved them of inconvenient witnesses. For some of those door shutters,
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  Speaker 1: having nothing else to do or nowhere to lay their heads,
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  Speaker 1: stayed at the opera from idleness or necessity, and spent
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  Speaker 1: the night there. But they were not left to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: their solitude for long. Other shades now came down by
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  Speaker 1: the same way by which the door shutters had gone up.
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  Speaker 1: Each of these shades carried a little lantern and moved
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  Speaker 1: it about above, below, and all around, as though looking
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  Speaker 1: for something or some hang it muttered the Persian. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know what they are looking for, but they might
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  Speaker 1: easily find us. Let us get away quick. Your hand up, sir,
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  Speaker 1: ready to fire? Bend your arm more, that's it, hand
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  Speaker 1: at the level of your eye, as though you were
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  Speaker 1: fighting a duel and waiting for the word to fire. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: leave your pistol in your pocket. Quick, come along downstairs,
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  Speaker 1: level of your eye. Question of life or death? Here?
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  Speaker 1: This way, these stairs, they reached the fifth cellar. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: what a duel, sir, What a duel. Once in the
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  Speaker 1: fifth cellar, the Persian drew breath. He seemed to enjoy
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  Speaker 1: a rather greater sense of security than he had displayed
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  Speaker 1: when they both stopped in the third, but he never
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  Speaker 1: altered the attitude of his hand, and Raoul, remembering the
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  Speaker 1: Persian's observation, I know these pistols can be relied upon,
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  Speaker 1: was more and more astonished, wondering why anyone should be
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  Speaker 1: so gratified at being able to rely upon a pistol
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  Speaker 1: which he did not intend to use, But the Persian
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  Speaker 1: left him no time for reflection, telling Raoul to stay
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  Speaker 1: where he was, He ran up a few steps of
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  Speaker 1: the staircase which they had just left, and then returned.
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  Speaker 1: How stupid of us, he whispered, We shall soon have
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  Speaker 1: seen the end of those men with their lanterns. It
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  Speaker 1: is the firemen going their rounds. The two men waited
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  Speaker 1: five minutes longer. Then the Persian took Raoul up the
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  Speaker 1: stairs again. But suddenly he stopped him with a gesture.
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  Speaker 1: Something moved in the darkness before them. Flat on your stomach,
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  Speaker 1: whispered the Persian. The two men lay flat on the floor.
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  Speaker 1: They were only just in time. A shade, this time
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  Speaker 1: carrying no light, just a shade in the shade passed.
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  Speaker 1: It passed close to them, near enough to touch them.
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  Speaker 1: They felt the warmth of its cloak upon them, for
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  Speaker 1: they could distinguish the shades of efficiently to see that
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  Speaker 1: it wore a cloak which shrouded it from head to foot.
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  Speaker 1: On its head, it had a soft felt hat. It
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  Speaker 1: moved away, drawing its feet against the walls, and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: giving a kick into a corner. Who said the Persian,
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  Speaker 1: we've had a narrow escape. That shade knows me and
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  Speaker 1: has twice taken me to the manager's office. Is it
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  Speaker 1: some one belonging to the theater police, asked Raoul. It's
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  Speaker 1: some one much worse than that, replied the Persian, without
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  Speaker 1: giving any further explanation. It's not he. He. If he
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  Speaker 1: does not come behind us, we shall always see his
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  Speaker 1: yellow eyes. That is more or less our safeguard to night.
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  Speaker 1: But he may come from behind stealing up, and we
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  Speaker 1: are dead men if we do not keep our hands
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  Speaker 1: as though about to fire, at the level of our
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  Speaker 1: eyes in front. The Persian had hardly finished speaking when
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  Speaker 1: a fantastic face came in sight, a whole fiery face,
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  Speaker 1: not only two yellow eyes. Yes, a head of fire
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  Speaker 1: came toward them at a man's height, but with no
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  Speaker 1: body attached to it. The face shed fire, looked in
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  Speaker 1: the darkness like a flame shaped as a man's face. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: said the Persian between his teeth. I have never seen
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  Speaker 1: this before. Pampin was not mad, after all, he had
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  Speaker 1: seen it. What can that flame be? It is not he,
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  Speaker 1: but he must have set it. Take care, Take care
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  Speaker 1: your hand at the level of your eyes. In Heaven's name,
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  Speaker 1: at the level of your eyes. No, most of his tricks,
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  Speaker 1: but not this one. Come, let us run. It is
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  Speaker 1: safer hand at the level of your eyes. And they
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  Speaker 1: fled down the long passage that opened before them. After
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  Speaker 1: a few seconds that seemed to them like long minutes,
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  Speaker 1: they stopped. He doesn't often come this way, said the person.
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  Speaker 1: This side has nothing to do with him. This side
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  Speaker 1: does not lead to the lake, nor to the house
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  Speaker 1: on the lake. But perhaps he knows that we are
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  Speaker 1: at his heels. Although I promised him to leave him
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  Speaker 1: alone and never to meddle in his business again, so saying,
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  Speaker 1: he turned his head, and Raoul also turned his head,
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  Speaker 1: and they again saw the head of fire behind their
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: two heads. It had followed them, and it must have
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  Speaker 1: run also, and perhaps faster than may, for it seemed
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  Speaker 1: to be nearer to them. At the same time, they
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: began to perceive a certain noise of which they could
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  Speaker 1: not guess the nature. They simply noticed that the sound
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  Speaker 1: seemed to move and to approach with the fiery face.
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  Speaker 1: It was a noise as though thousands of nails had
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  Speaker 1: been scraped against the blackboard, the perfectly unendurable noise that
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: is sometimes made by a little stone inside the chalk
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  Speaker 1: that grates on the blackboard. They continued to retreat, but
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  Speaker 1: the Fiery Face came on, came on, gaining on them.
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  Speaker 1: They could see its features clearly now. The eyes were
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  Speaker 1: round and staring, the nose a little crooked, and the
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: mouth large with a hanging lower lip, very like the eyes, nose,
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: and lip of the moon, when the moon is quite red,
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  Speaker 1: bright red. How did that red moon manage to glide
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  Speaker 1: through the darkness at a man's height with nothing to
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  Speaker 1: support it, at least apparently, And how did it go
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  Speaker 1: so fast, so straight ahead, with such staring, staring eyes,
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  Speaker 1: And what was that scratching, scraping, grating sound which it
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: brought with it? The Persian and Raoul could retreat no
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  Speaker 1: farther and flatten themselves against the wall, not knowing what
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  Speaker 1: was going to happen because of that incomprehensible head of fire,
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  Speaker 1: and especially now because of the more intense, swarming, living
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  Speaker 1: numerous sound, for the sound was certainly made up of
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: hundreds of little sounds that moved in the darkness under
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  Speaker 1: the Fiery Face. And the Fiery Face came on, with
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  Speaker 1: its noise, came level with them, and the two companions
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  Speaker 1: flat against their wall, felt their hair stand on end
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  Speaker 1: with horror, for they now knew what the thousand noises meant.
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  Speaker 1: They came in a troop, hustled along in the shadow
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  Speaker 1: by innumerable little, hurried waves, swifter than the waves that
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  Speaker 1: rush over the sands at high tide, little night waves
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  Speaker 1: foaming under the moon, under the fiery head that was
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  Speaker 1: like a moon. And the little waves passed between their legs,
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  Speaker 1: climbing up their legs irresistibly, and Raoul and the Persian
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  Speaker 1: could no longer restrain their cries of horror, dismay, and pain,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: nor could they continue to hold their hands at the
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: level of their eyes. Their hands went down to their
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: legs to push back the waves, which were full of
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  Speaker 1: little legs and nails and claws and teeth. Yes, Raoul
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  Speaker 1: and the Persian were ready to faint like pampen the firemen,
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  Speaker 1: but the head of Fire turned round in answer to
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  Speaker 1: their cries and spoke to them, don't move, don't move
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  Speaker 1: whatever you do, don't come after me. I am the
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  Speaker 1: rat catcher. Let me pass with my rat. And the
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  Speaker 1: head of Fire disappeared, vanished in the darkness, while the
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  Speaker 1: passage in front of it lit up as the result
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  Speaker 1: of the change which the ratcatcher had made in his
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  Speaker 1: dark lantern before. So as not to scare the rats
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  Speaker 1: in front of him, he had turned his dark lantern
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  Speaker 1: on himself, lighting up his own head. Now to hasten
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  Speaker 1: their flight, he lit the dark space in front of him,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: and he jumped along, dragging with him the waves of
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: scratching rats all the thousand sounds. Raoul and the Persian
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: breathed again, though still trembling. I ought to have remembered
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: that Eric talked to me about the rat catcher, said
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the Persian. But he never told me that he looked
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: like that, And it's funny that I should never have
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: met him before. Of course, Eric never comes to this part.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: Are we very far from the lake, Sir asked Raoul.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: When shall we get there? Take me to the lake, Oh,
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: take me to the lake. When we are at the lake,
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: we will call out. Christine will hear us, and he
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: will hear us too, and as you know, we shall
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: talk to him, baby, said the Persian. We shall never
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: enter the house on the lake. By the lake, I
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: myself have never landed on the other bank, the bank
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: on which the house stands. You have to cross the
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: lake first, and it is well guarded. I fear that
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: more than one of those men, old scene shifters, old
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: door shutters, who have never been seen again, were simply
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: tempted to cross the lake. It is terrible, I myself
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: would have been nearly killed there if the monster had
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: not recognized me in time. One piece of advice, sir,
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: never go near the lake, and above all, shut your
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: ears if you hear the boy singing under the water,
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: the siren's voice. But then what are we here for,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: asked Raoul, in a transport of fever, impatience and rage.
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: If you can do nothing for Christine, at least let
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: me die for her. The Persian tried to calm the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: young man. We have only one means of saving Christine day,
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: believe me, which is to enter the house unperceived by
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: the monster. And is there any hope of that, sir ah.
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: If I had not that hope, I would not have
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: come to fetch you. And how can one enter the
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: house on the lake without crossing the lake from the
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: third cellar from which we were so unluckily driven away?
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: We will go back there now, I will tell you,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: said the Persian, with a sudden change in his voice.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: I will tell you the exact place, sir. It is
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: between a set piece and a discarded scene from Roy
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: de Lahore, exactly at the spot where Joseph Bouquet died. Come, sir,
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: take courage and follow me, and hold your hand at
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the level of your eyes. But where are we? The
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Persian lit his lamp again and flung its rays down
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: two enormous corridors that crossed each other at right angles.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: We must be, he said, in the part used more
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: particularly for the water works, I see no fire coming
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: from the furnaces. He went in front of Raoul seeking
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: his road, stopping abruptly when he was afraid of meeting
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: some water man. Then they had to protect themselves against
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: the glow of a sort of underground forge, which the
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: men were extinguishing, and at which Raoul recognized the demons
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: whom Christine had seen at the time of her first captivity.
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: In this way they gradually arrived beneath the huge cellars
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: below the stage. They must at this time have been
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: at the very bottom of the tub, and at an
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: extremely great depth. When we remember that the earth was
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: dug out at fifty feet below the water that lay
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: under the whole of that part of Paris. The Persian
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: touched a partition wall and said, if I am not mistaken,
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: this is a wall that might easily belong to the
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: house on the lake. He was striking a partition wall
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of the tub, and perhaps it would be as well
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: for the reader to know how the bottom and the
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: partition walls of the tub were built. In order to
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: prevent the waters surrounding the building operations from remaining in
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: immediate contact with the walls supporting the whole of the
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: theatrical machinery, the architect was obliged to build a double
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: case in every direction. The work of constructing this double
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: case took a whole year. It was the wall of
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: the first inner case that the Persians struck when speaking
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: to Raoul of the House on the Lake. To anyone
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: understanding the architecture of the edifice, the Persian's action would
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: seem to indicate that Eric's mysterious house had been built
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: in the double case, formed of a thick wall constructed
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: as an embankment or dam, then of a brick wall,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: a tremendous layer of cement, and another wall several yards
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: in thickness. At the Persian's words, Raoul flung himself against
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: the wall and listened eagerly. But he heard nothing, nothing
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: except distant steps sounding on the floor of the upper
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: portions of the theater. The Persian darkened his lantern again
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: look out. He said, keep your hand up and silence,
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: for we shall try another way of getting in. And
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: he led him to the little staircase by which they
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: had come down lately. They went up, stopping at each step,
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: peering into the darkness and the silence, till they came
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to the third cellar. Here the Persian motioned to Raoul
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: to Guani's knees, and in this way, crawling on both
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: knees and one hand for the other hand was held
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: in the position indicated. They reached the end wall. Against
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: this wall stood a large discarded scene from the Roy
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: de la Hore. Close to this scene was a set piece.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: Between the scene and the set piece, there was just
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: room for a body, for a body which one day
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: was found hanging there, the body of Joseph Bouquet. The Persian,
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: still kneeling, stopped and listened. For a moment. He seemed
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: to hesitate and looked at Raoul. Then he turned his
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: eyes upward towards the second cellar, which sent down the
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: faint glimmer of a lantern threw a cranny between two boards.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: This glimmer seemed to trouble the Persian. At last, he
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: tossed his head and made up his mind to act.
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: He slipped between the set piece and the scene from
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: the roy de Lahore, with Raoul close upon his heels.
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: With his free hand, the Persian felt the wall. Raoul
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: saw him bear heavily upon the wall, just as he
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: had pressed against the wall in Christine's dressing room. Then
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: a stone gave way, leaving a hole in the wall.
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: This time, the Persian took his pistol from his pocket
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: and made a sign to Raoul to do as he did.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: He cocked the pistol, and resolutely, still on his knees,
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: he wiggled through the hole in the wall. Raoul, who
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: had wished to pass first, had to be content to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: follow him. The hole was very narrow. The Persian stopped
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: almost at once. Raoul heard him feeling the stones around him.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Then the Persian took out his dark lantern again, stooped forward,
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: examined something beneath him, and immediately extinguished his lantern. Raoul
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: heard him say in a whisper, we shall have to
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: drop a few yards without making a noise. Take off
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: your boots. The Persian handed his own shoes to Raoul,
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: put them outside the wall. He said, we shall find
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: them there when we leave. He crawled a little farther
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: on his knees, then turned right round and said, I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: am going to hang by my hands from the edge
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: of the stone and let myself drop into his house.
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: You must do exactly the same. Do not be afraid
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: I will catch you in my arms. Raoul soon heard
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: a dull sound, evidently produced by the fall of the Persian,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: and then dropped down. He felt himself clasped in the
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: Persian's arms. Hush, said the Persian, and they stood motionless, listening.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: The darkness was thick around them, the silence heavy and terrible.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: Then the Persian began to make play with the dark lantern, again,
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: turning the rays over their heads, looking for the hole
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: through which they had come, and, failing to find it,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: said oh, the stone has closed of itself, and the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: light of the lantern swept down the wall and over
• 27:42
  Speaker 1: the floor. The Persian stooped and picked up something, a
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: sort of cord, which he examined for a second and
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: flung away with horror the punjab lassal. He muttered, what
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: is it, asked Raoul. The Persian shivered, It might very
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: well be the rope by which the man was hanged,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and which was looked for so long, And suddenly seized
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: with fresh anxiety, he moved the little red disk of
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: his lantern over the walls. In this way he let
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: up a curious thing. The trunk of a tree, which
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: seemed still quite alive, with its leaves and the branches
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: of that tree, ran right up the walls and disappeared
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: in the ceiling. Because of the smallness of the luminous disk,
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: it was difficult at first to make out the appearance
• 28:28
  Speaker 1: of things. They saw a corner of a branch, and
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: a leaf, and another leaf, and next to it nothing
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: at all, nothing but the ray of light that seemed
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: to reflect itself. Raoul passed his hand over that nothing,
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: over that reflection. Hullo, he said, the wall is a
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: looking glass. Yes, a looking glass, said the Persian, in
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: a tone of deep emotion, and passing the hand that
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: held the pistol over his moist forehead, he added, we
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: have dropped into the torture chamber. What the Persian knew
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: of this torture chamber, and what there befell him and
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: his companion, shall be told in his own words, as
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: set down in a manuscript which he left behind him,
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: and which I copy verbatim end of Chapter twenty