I clutched M. de Chagny's arm more firmly still;
and then we distinctly heard these words:
"You must make your choice! The wedding mass or the requiem mass!"
I recognized the voice of the monster.
There was another moan, followed by a long silence.
I was persuaded by now that the monster was unaware of our presence
in his house, for otherwise he would certainly have managed not
to let us hear him. He would only have had to close the little
invisible window through which the torture-lovers look down into
the torture-chamber. Besides, I was certain that, if he had known
of our presence, the tortures would have begun at once.
The important thing was not to let him know; and I dreaded
nothing so much as the impulsiveness of the Vicomte de Chagny,
who wanted to rush through the walls to Christine Daae, whose moans
we continued to hear at intervals.
"The requiem mass is not at all gay," Erik's voice resumed,
"whereas the wedding mass--you can take my word for it--is magnificent!
You must take a resolution and know your own mind! I can't go
on living like this, like a mole in a burrow! Don Juan Triumphant
is finished; and now I want to live like everybody else.
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