..In a word, madam, your friend...
your Angel of Music!...But I shall snatch off his mask,
as I shall snatch off my own; and, this time, we shall look each
other in the face, he and I, with no veil and no lies between us;
and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!"
He burst into a mad laugh, while Christine gave a disconsolate moan
behind her velvet mask. With a tragic gesture, she flung out her
two arms, which fixed a barrier of white flesh against the door.
"In the name of our love, Raoul, you shall not pass!..."
He stopped. What had she said?...In the name of their love?...
Never before had she confessed that she loved him. And yet she
had had opportunities enough....Pooh, her only object was to gain
a few seconds!...She wished to give the Red Death time to escape...
And, in accents of childish hatred, he said:
"You lie, madam, for you do not love me and you have never loved me!
What a poor fellow I must be to let you mock and flout me as you
have done! Why did you give me every reason for hope, at Perros...
for honest hope, madam, for I am an honest man and I believed you
to be an honest woman, when your only intention was to deceive me!
Alas, you have deceived us all! You have taken a shameful advantage
of the candid affection of your benefactress herself, who continues
to believe in your sincerity while you go about the Opera ball
with Red Death!.
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