The Phantom of the Opera

plain gold ring. She was gentle and kind to him. She talked to hi

at latest. She suggested, almost gaily, that he must look upon the voyage with delight, as a stage toward his coming fame. And wh

ings?" he asked. "Perhaps we shall never see eac

she said

inking of some new thing that had entered her mind

u thinking o

we shall not see e

at make you

h, we shall have to

ledge our faith and wait

r hand on

o question of that ... And we shall n

overpowering gaiety. She clapped her hands with

them, "but if we can not be married, we can ... we can be engaged! Nobody will know but ourselves, Raoul. There have been plenty of secret marriages: why not

her inspiration. Then s

IS A HAPPINESS THAT

idea. He bowed to

ave the honor to a

trothed! ... Oh, Raoul, how happy we shall be!

to each other and the eternal vows they exchanged! They played at hearts as other children might play at ball; only, as it was r

n, Raoul's heart was badly hurt and he st

go to the

uddenly discovered the danger of the game and reproached herself bitterly.

f port and a bunch of violets. In the evening, she did not sing; and he did not receive his usual letter, though they had arranged to write to each other daily dur

him such news as that with such stupefying calmness. He t

not been able to appear on the stage. The terror of a fresh "co-ack" filled her heart and deprived her of all her power of singing; and the theater that had witnessed her incomp

hearing the thousand echoes of this fresh triumph; for Christine still wo

gave her soul again tonight and did not give it to you... If she will not tel

imself in her way. She saw him for he

Quick! .

ed him to her

ain to withhold a single hour of the ideal happiness which she had promised him. She let her tears flow. They kisse

ten to something, and, with a quick gesture, pointed to the door. When he was on the thre

thed! And be happy, Raoul

r delightful make-believe. They looked at each other, in the dressing-room, with the

I am jealous!

im all the same

, dear. The air

se jailer he could feel walking within the walls ... the jailer Erik ... But she took him to the stage and made him si

she condemned to breathe no other air than that of the theater. An occasional fireman passed, watching over their melancholy idyll from afar. And she would drag him up above the clouds, in the magnificent disorder of the grid, where she loved to make him

a sa

rls' dancing-school, where brats between six and ten were practising their steps, in the hope of beco

ong them like a popular queen, encouraging them in their labors, sitting down in the workshops, giving words of advice to the workmen whose hands hesitated to cut into the rich stuffs that were to clothe heroes. There were in

n some worm-eaten "property," would listen to the legends of the Opera, even as, in their childhood, they had listened to the old Breton tales. Those old people remembered nothing outside the Opera. They had lived

tronger of the two, became suddenly inexpressibly nervous. When on their expeditions, she would start running without reason or else suddenly stop; and her hand, turning ice-cold in a moment, would hold the young man back. Sometimes her eyes seemed to pursue imag

I swear it

e an open trapdoor on the stage, R

empire, Christine, but there are strange stor

feared to see him disappear down the black

! ... Besides, it's not mine ... EVERYTH

r in the eyes a

s down ther

! I sometimes wonder if you are quite sane, Raoul ... You alwa

he was obstinate and wanted to remain by

ickly that they did not even see the hand th

s there," Raou

shoulders, but

now ... They open and shut the trap-doors without any particular reason

it were HE,

shut himself up,

! He's work

the trap-doors and work at

he work

eat, drink, or breathe for days and nights at a time ... he becomes a living dead man and has no time to amuse himself

e it we

afraid

course not

st, one afternoon, she arrived very late, with her face so desperately pale and her eyes so desperately red, that Raoul resolved to go to all lengths, inclu

name! Suppose HE heard yo

stared wildly at ev

, Christine, I swear it. And you

t pos

rnent, while dragging the young man up to the topmost

re HE can not come to look for you. You will be safe; and

hem with incredible rapture. But, suddenly be

all she said.

ed him up tow

maze of timber-work. They slipped through the buttresses, the rafters, the joists

shadow, which stopped when she stopped, which started again when she did and which made no more noise than a well-conducted shadow s