A wild rush for the doors followed.
The papers of the day state that there were numbers wounded
and one killed. The chandelier had crashed down upon the head
of the wretched woman who had come to the Opera for the first time
in her life, the one whom M. Richard had appointed to succeed
Mme. Giry, the ghost's box-keeper, in her functions! She died on
the spot and, the next morning, a newspaper appeared with this heading:
TWO HUNDRED KILOS ON THE HEAD OF A CONCIERGE
That was her sole epitaph!
Chapter VIII The Mysterious Brougham
That tragic evening was bad for everybody. Carlotta fell ill.
As for Christine Daae, she disappeared after the performance.
A fortnight elapsed during which she was seen neither at the Opera
nor outside.
Raoul, of course, was the first to be astonished at the prima
donna's absence. He wrote to her at Mme. Valerius' flat and received
no reply. His grief increased and he ended by being seriously alarmed
at never seeing her name on the program. FAUST was played without her.
One afternoon he went to the managers' office to ask the reason
of Christine's disappearance.
Pages:
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129