Prev | Current Page 315 | Next

Leroux, Gaston, 1868-1927

"The Phantom of the Opera"

We said to ourselves:
"Perhaps he has left Christine behind the wall."
And we thought only of the possibility of warning Christine Daae
of our presence, unknown to the monster. We were unable to leave
the torture-chamber now, unless Christine opened the door to us;
and it was only on this condition that we could hope to help her,
for we did not even know where the door might be.
Suddenly, the silence in the next room was disturbed by the ringing
of an electric bell. There was a bound on the other side of the wall
and Erik's voice of thunder:
"Somebody ringing! Walk in, please!"
A sinister chuckle.
"Who has come bothering now? Wait for me here....I AM GOING
TO TELL THE SIREN TO OPEN THE DOOR."
Steps moved away, a door closed. I had no time to think of the fresh
horror that was preparing; I forgot that the monster was only going
out perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; I understood but one thing:
Christine was alone behind the wall!
The Vicomte de Chagny was already calling to her:
"Christine! Christine!"
As we could hear what was said in the next room, there was
no reason why my companion should not be heard in his turn.


Pages:
303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327