8 Where is Christine
Daae?
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
now understood about O.G. They didn't want any more accidents.
'Box 5 is free tonight for O.G. Daae 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 Armand.
The evening began well. The chandelier was now back in place,
with new ropes. All Paris was in the Opera House. Everybody
wanted to hear Christine Daae's voice again. People also knew
about the love story between Christine Daae and the Vicomte
de Chagny. There are no love secrets in Paris! People watched
the Comte and the Vicomte in Box 14 with interest.
Young men from families like de Chagny do not marry opera
singers. When Christine came on to 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 Daae. 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 Daae 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 think it was Christine Daae'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 running everywhere! Then we saw the Vicomte
de Chagny. His face was red and he was very angry. "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 Daae's dressing-room
...'
'Yes? And then?' Monsieur Firmin said quickly. 'What happened
next?'
'Nobody knows!' Meg's face was white. 'We looked into Christine
Daae's dressing-room, but ... but there was nobody there!'
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