On Saturday morning Comte Philippe looked across the breakfast table at his brother.
'Don't do it,Raoul,please.All this talk about ghosts and phantoms.I think the girl is mad.'
'She's not mad,and I'm going to marry her,'Raoul said.
'She's only a little opera singer,'Philippe said unhappily.
'And she's very young.Are you still going to love her in ten,or twenty,years' time?'
Raoul drank his coffee and did not answer.
There were two more unhappy faces in the Opera House,too.The directors nowunderstood about O.G.They didn't want any more accidents.
'Box 5 is free tonight for O.G. Daaé is singing Margarita.And here is 20,000 francs.Madame Giry can leave the money in Box 5 for him.Is that everything?'Monsieur Armand asked Monsieur Firmin.
'It's a lot of money,'Monsieur Firmin said unhappily.He thought for a minute.'What about some flowers in Box 5?Madame Giry says that O.G.likes flowers.'
'O.G.can bring his own flowers!' shouted Monsieur Ar mand.
The evening began well.The chandelier was now back in place, with new ropes.All Paris was in the Opera House.Ev erybody wanted to hear Christine Daaé's voice again.People also knew about the love story between Christine Daaé and the Vicomte de Chagny.There are no love secrets in Paris!People watched the Comte and the Vicomte in Box 14 withinterest.Young men from families like de Chagny do not marry opera Singers.
When Christine came onto the stage,her face was white and she looked afraid.But she sang like an angel.Ah, what a voice!All Paris was in love with Christine Daaé.
She began to sing the famous love song.Suddenly,every light in the Opera House went out.For a second nobody moved or spoke.Then a woman screamed,and all the lights came on again.
But Christine Daaé was no longer on the stage!She was not behind the stage, she was not under the stage.Nobody could find her.
The Opera House went mad.Everybody ran here and there,shouted and called. In the directors office, people ran in and out.The police came,and asked questions. But nobody could answer the questions.Monsieur Armand got angry and shouted,and Monsieur Firmin told him to be quiet.Then Madame Giry arrived in the office with her daughter Meg.
'Go away,woman!'Monsieur Armand shouted.
'Monsieur,there are three people missing now!'Madame Giry said.'Meg,tell the directors your story.'
This was Meg's story.
'When the lights went out,we were just behind the stage.We heard a scream-I thlnk it was Christine Daaé's voice.Then the lights came back on,but Christine wasn't there!we were very afraid,and we began to run back to our dressing room.There were people runningeverywhere! Then we saw the Vicomte de Chagny.His face was red and he was very an gry.“Where's Christine? Where's Christine?he shouted.Suddenly the Persian came up behind him and took his arm.He said something to the Vicomte and they went into Christine Daaé's dressing-room…'
'Yes? And then?' Monsieur Firmin said quickly.'What happened next?'
'Nobody knows!' Meg's face was white.'We looked into Christine Daaé's dressing-room,but…but there was nobody there!'
8.克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃哪去了?
星期六早上菲利普伯爵走到早餐桌那頭他弟弟的面前。
“請不要做這樣的事,拉烏爾。這里所有人都在談?wù)摴戆∮撵`啊。我想那個(gè)姑娘瘋了。”
“她沒有瘋,而且我要和她結(jié)婚。”拉烏爾說。
“她只是一個(gè)毫不起眼的歌劇演員,”菲利普不高興地說,“而且她太年輕。 10年20年以后你還會(huì)仍然愛她嗎?”
拉烏爾喝著咖啡沒有回答。
在歌劇院里也有兩張很不高興的面孔。經(jīng)理們現(xiàn)在終于知道了O.G.的厲害。他們不想再出現(xiàn)任何事故。
“5號(hào)包廂今晚空著留給O.G.由達(dá)埃來演唱瑪格麗塔。另外這里是兩萬法郎。吉麗夫人可以把這些錢留在5號(hào)包廂里給他。所有的就那些事吧?”阿爾芒先生問菲爾曼先生。
“這是很多錢啊,”菲爾曼先生不高興地說。他想了一會(huì)兒,“在5號(hào)包廂里放些鮮花怎么樣?吉麗夫人說那個(gè)O.G.喜歡鮮花。”
“O.G.可以帶上他自己的鮮花!”阿爾芒先生喊道。
這個(gè)夜晚到來時(shí),一切還是令人滿意的。那枝形吊燈換了新的繩索又回到了它原來的位置。巴黎所有的人都到了歌劇院。每個(gè)人都想再次欣賞克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃的演唱。人們也都知道了克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃和沙尼家族的子爵之間的愛情故事。在巴黎沒有什么愛情秘密!人們饒有興趣地朝14號(hào)包廂里的伯爵和子爵張望著。出身于象沙尼那樣家族的年輕人一般是不會(huì)與歌劇演員結(jié)婚的。
當(dāng)克麗斯廷出現(xiàn)在舞臺(tái)上的時(shí)候,她的臉色蒼白而且看上去有些害怕。但是她唱得像一位天使。啊,多么美妙的聲音!整個(gè)巴黎都愛上了克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃。
她開始演唱那首著名的愛情歌曲。突然,歌劇院里所有的燈都熄滅了。這片刻之間沒有人走動(dòng),也沒有人說話。隨后一個(gè)女人尖叫起來,與此同時(shí)所有的燈又都亮了。
但是克麗斯廷卻不再在舞臺(tái)上了!她不在舞臺(tái)的后面,她也不在舞臺(tái)底下。沒有人能夠找到她。
歌劇院里亂得一團(tuán)糟。每個(gè)人都跑來跑去,又喊又叫。在經(jīng)理辦公室里,人們跑進(jìn)跑出。警察來了,問了一些問題。但是沒有人能夠回答這些問題。阿爾芒先生發(fā)著脾氣,喊叫著,菲爾曼先生要他冷靜一些。接著,吉麗夫人領(lǐng)著她的女兒梅格走進(jìn)了辦公室。
“出去,你這個(gè)小娘們!”阿爾曼先生喊道。
“先生,現(xiàn)在有三個(gè)人失蹤了!”吉麗夫人說,“梅格,把你看到的事告訴經(jīng)理們。”
這是梅格的故事。
“當(dāng)燈熄滅的時(shí)候,我們正在舞臺(tái)的后面。我們聽到一聲尖叫——我覺得是克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃的聲音。隨后燈又亮了,但是克麗斯廷不見了!我們非常害怕,我們都往自己的化妝室跑。人們到處亂跑!接著我們看見了沙尼家族的子爵。他滿臉通紅而且顯得非常憤怒。'克麗斯廷你在哪里?克麗斯廷你在哪里?'他喊著。突然那個(gè)波斯人從他后面走上來抓住他的手臂。他對子爵說了些什么,然后他們就進(jìn)了克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃的化妝室……”
“是嗎?那么后來呢?”菲爾曼先生著急地問,“接下來發(fā)生了什么事?”
“沒有人知道!”梅格臉色蒼白,“我們朝克麗斯廷·達(dá)埃的化妝室里面看了看,但是……但是那里并沒有人!”