Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 192, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 August 1912 — Page 2

The PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

By Gaston Leroux

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5 SYNOPSIS. Consternation is caused on the last night that the Opera Is managed by Debienne and Pollgny because of the appearance or a ghost, said to have been in evidence on several previous occasions. Christine Daae, a member of the opera company, is called upon to fill a very important part and scores a great success. Count de Chagny and his brother Raoul are among those who applaud the singer. Raoul tries to see Christine in the dressing room, but is unable to do so and later discovers that some one is making love to her. She emerges alone, and Upon entering the room he finds It empty. While the farewell ceremony for the retiring managers is going on, the Opera Ghost appears and informs the new managers that Box No. 5 is reserved for him. Box No. 5 is sold with disastrous results. The managers receive a letter from the Opera Ghost calling attention to the error. Christine Daae writes Raoul that ■he has gone to visit the grave of her father. He goes also, and in the night follows her to the church. Wonderful violin music is heard. Raoul visits a graveyard. Raoul Is found next morning almost frozen. Moncharmin and Richard Investigate Box No. 5 and decide to see the performance of "Faust” from front seats of that box. Carlotta, who sings the leading part in "Faust,” is wa'rned to give the part to Christine. Carlotta. refusing, loses her voice in the middle of a song and the main chandelier crashes down, killing a woman and wounding—many. Raoul searches for Christine, who has disappeared. He sees her at last, but does not speak, and later a note is received from her making an appointment for a masked ball. Raoul meets Christine at the ball. He sees a Ssrson in the disguise of Red Death. e hears her conversing with some one whom she calls Erik. Raoul visits Christine and tells her he knows the name of the unseen man whom she calls the Angel of Music. Christine and Raoul become secretly engaged prior to a polar expedition that Raoul Is to make. Christine relates a strange adventure with the unseen Erik and promises to run away with Raoul. CHAPTER XIII. *' <*- __ A Master-Stroke of the Trap-Door Lover. Raoul and Christine ran, eager to escape from the roof and the blazing eyes that showed only in the dark; and they did not stop before they came to the eighth floor on the way down. There was no performance at the opera that night and the passages were empty. Suddenly, a queer-look-ing form stood befote them and blocked the roacl: . “No, not this way!" I And the form pointed to another passage by which they were to reach the wings. Raoul wanted to stop and ask for an explanation. But the form, rwhlch wore a sort of long frock-coat sand a pointed cap, said: ■“Quick! Go away quickly!" Christine was already dragging Raoul, compelling him to start running again. “But who is he? Who Is that man?** be asked. Christine replied: “It’s the Persian." , “What’s he doing here?” “Nobody knows. He is always in the opera.” “You are making me run away, for the first time in’my life. If we really saw Erick, what I ought to have done was to nail him to Apollo's lyre, Just as we nail the owls to the walls of our Breton farms; and there would have been no more question of him." “My dear Raoul, you would first have had to climb up to Apollo’s lyre; that is no easy matter.” “The blazing eyes were there!" “Oh, you are getting like me now, seeing him everywhere! What I took for blazing eyes was probably a couple of stars shining through the strings of the lyre." And Christine went down another floor, with Raoul following her. “As you have quite made up your mind to go, Christine, I assure you It would be better to go at once. Why wait for tomorrow? He may have heard us tonight." “No, no, he Is working, I tell ybu, at his Don Juan Triumphant and not thinking of us."

“You’re so sure of that you keep on looking behind you!” “Come to my dressing-room." “Hadn’t we better meet outside the opera?” . . “Never, till we go away for g<sbd! It would bring us bad tuck, if 1 did not keep my word. I promised him to see you only here.” “It’s a good thing for me that, he allowed you even that. Do you know,” said Raoul bitterly, “that it was very plucky of you to let us play at being engaged?” “Why, my dear, he knows all about It! He said, ‘I trust you, Christine. M de Chagny is in love with you and Is going abroad. Before he goes, 1 want him to be .as happy as I am.’ Are people when they lover “Yes, Christine, when they love and •re not sure of being loved." They came to Christine’s dressingroom. “Why do yon think that yon Are safer in this room than on the stager* asked Raoul. "You heard him through the walls hers, therefore he can certainly bear ns." * “No. He gave me his word not- to be behind the jralls of my dressingroom again and I believe Erik's word.

This room and my bedroom on the Take are for me, exclusively, and not to be approached by him.” "How can you have gone trom this room into that dark passage. Christine? Suppose we try to repeat your movements; shall we?" “It is dangerous, dear, for the glass might carry me off again; and, instead of running away, I should be obliged to go to the end of the secret passage to the lake and there call Erik.” “Would he hear you?” "Erik will hear me wherever I call him. He told me so. He is a very curious genius. You must, not think, Raoul, that he is simply a man who amuses himself by living underground. He does things that ho other man could do; he knows things which nobody in the world knows.” “Take care, Christine, you are making a ghost of him again!” “No, he is not a ghost; he Is a man of heaven and that Is all." “A man of heaven and earth . . . that Is all! A nice way ta. speak of him! . . . And are you still resolved to run away from him?" “Yes, tomorrow.” “Tomorrow, you will have no resolve left!” "Then, Raoul, you must run away with me in spite of myself; la that understood ?” "1 shall be here at twelve tomorrow night; I shall keep my promise, whatever happens. You say that, after listening to the performance, he Is to wait for you in the dining-room on the lake?” “Yes.” “And how are you to reach him, If you don’t know how to go out by the glass ?’* “Why, by going straight to the edge of the lake.” Christine opened a box. took out an enormous key and showed it to Raoul. “What’s that?’’ he asked. “The key of the gate to the underground passage In the Kue Scribe." ”1 understand, Christine. It leads straight to the lake. Give it to me, Christine, will you?” "Never!” she said. “That would be treacherous!” Suddenly Christine changed color. A mortal pallor overspfead her features. “Oh, heavens!” she cried. “Erik! Erik! Have pity on me!" "Ht)’»d your tongue!” said Raoul. "Yon told me he could bear you!” Bdt the singer's attitude /became, more and more inexplicable. She wrunc her fingers, repeating, with a distraught air: “Oh, heaven! Oh, heaven!” “But what is it? What is It?" Raoul implored. “The ring . . . the gold ring he gave me.” so Erik gave you that ring!" “YSil know he did, Raoul! But what ?ou don’t know Is that, when he gave ft tff me. he said, 'I give you

"The Key of the Gate to the Underground Passage.”

back your liberty, Christine, on condition that this ring Is always on your finger. As long as you keep it, you will be protected against all danger and Erik will remain your friend. But woe to you if you ever part with It, for Erik will have his revenge!’ . - My dear, my dear, the ring is gone! . . . Woe to us both!" They both looked for the ring, but could not find it. Christine refused to be pacified. “It was while T gave you that kiss, up above, under Apollo’s lyre," she “The ring must have slipped from my finger and dropped into the street! We can never find It. And what misfortunes are In store for us noWl Oh, to run away! ” “Let us run away at once.” Raoul Insisted, once more. She hesitated. He thought that she was gotnfc to say yes. . . . Then her bright pupils became dimmed and she said: “No! Tomorrow!” And she left him hurriedly, still wringing and rubbing her fingers, as though she hoped to bring the ring back like that. Raoul went home, greatly perturbed at all that he had heard. “If I don’t save her from the hands of that humbug,” he said, aloud, as he went to bed, “she Is lost. But 1 shall save her.” He put out his lamp and felt a need to insult Erik in the dark. Thrice over, he shouted: “Humbug! . . . Humbug! . . Humbug!" - • But, suddenly, he raised himself on his elbow. A cold sweat poured from his temples. Two eyes, like blazing Coals, had appeared at the foot of his bed. They stared at him fixedly, terribly, in the darkness.of the night. Raoul was no coward; and yet he trembled. He put out a groping, hesitating hand toward the table by his bedside. He found the matches and lit his candle. The eyes disappeared. Still uneasy in his mind, he thought to himself: “She told me that hist eyes only showed In the dark. His eyes have disappeared in the light, but he may be there still.” And he rose, hunted about, went round the room. He looked under his bed, like a child. Then he thought himself .absurd, got Into bed again and blew out the candle. The eyes reappeared^ He sat up and stared back at them with all the courage he possessed. Then he cried: “Is that you, Erik? Man, genius, or ghost, is it you?” He reflected: “If It's he, he’s on the balcony!” Then he ran to t a chest, of drawers and groped for ’ his' revolver. He opened the balcony window, looked out, saw nothing and closed the window again. He went back to Tied, shivering, for the night was cold, and put the revolver on the table within his reach. The eyes were still there, at the foot of the bed. Were they between the bed and the° window-pane or behind the pane, that is to say, on the balcony? That was w'hat Raoul wanted to know. He also wanted to know If those eyes belonged to a human being. ... He wanted to know everything. Then, patiently, calmly, he seized his revolver and took aim. He aimed a little above the two eyes. Surely, if they were eyes and if above those two eyes there was a forehead and If Raoul was not too clumsy . . . The shot made a terrible din amid the silence of the slumbering house. And, while footsteps came huriylng along the passages, Raoul sat up with outstretched arm, ready to fire again, if need be. This time, the two eyes had disappeared. > Servants appeared, carrying lights; Count Philippe, terribly anxious:

“What Is *tr - ! - r “I think I hare been dreaming,” replied the young man. “I fired at two stars that kept me from sleeping." “You’re raving! Are you ill? For God’s sake, tell me, Raoul; what happened?” And the count seized hold or the revolver. “No, no. I’m not raving. . . Besldes, we shall soon see :,T = He got out of bed, put on a dress-ing-gown and slippers, took a light from the hands of a servant and, opening the window, stepped out on the balcony. The count saw that the window bad been pierced by a bullet at a man’s height. Raoul was leaning over the balcony with his candle. : “Aha!” he said. “Blood! . . . Blood! . . . Here, there, more blood! . . . That’s a good thing! A ghost who bleeds is less dangerous!” he grinned.

“A Ghost Who Bleeds is Less Dangerous!"

“Rabul! Raoul! Raoul!” The count was shaking him as though he were trying to waken a sleep-walker. “But, my dear brother'. I’m not asleep?” Raoul protested impatiently. "You can see the blood for yourself. 1 thought I had been dreaming and Bring at two stars. It was Erik’s eyes . . . and here is his blood! . . . After all, perhaps I was wrong to shoot; and . Christine lr. quite capable of never forgiving tn«. . . . All this would not have happened if I had drawn the curtains before going to bed.” “Raoul, have you suddenly gone mad? Wake up!” “What, still? You would do better to help me find Erik . . . for, after all, a ghost who bleeds can always be found.” The count’s valet said: “That is so, sir; there is blood on the balcony.” The other man-servant brought a lamp, by the light of which they examined the balcony carefully. The marks of blood followed the rail till they reached a gutter-spout; then they went up the gutter-spout. “My dear fellow,”,said Counf Philippe, "you have Bred at a cat.” “The misfortune is,” said Raoul, with a grin, “that it’s quite possible. With Erik, you aever Snow. Is it Erik? Is it the it the ghost? No, with Erik, you can’t tell!” Raoul went on making this strange sort of remarks which corresponded so intimately and logically with the preoccupation of his brain and which, at the same time, tended to persuade many people that his mffld was unhinged. The count himself was seized with this idea; and, later, the examining magistrate, on receiving the report of the commissary of police, came to the same conclusion. “Who is Erik?” asked the count, pressing his brother’s hand, “He is my rival. And, if he’s not dead, it’s a pity.” He dismissed the servants with a wave of the hand and the two Chagnys were left alone. Bu 4 the men were not out of ehrshot tfefore the count’s valet heard Raoul say, distinctly and emphatically: “I shall carry off Christine Daae tonight.” This phrase was afterward repeated to M. Faure, the examining-magis-trate. But no one fever knew exactly what passed between the two brothers at this interview. The servants declared that this was not their first quarrel. Their voices penetrated the wall;, and it was always as actress called Christine Daae that was in question. At breakfast —the early morning breakfast, which the count took ih his study— Philippe sent for brother. Raoul arrived silent The scene was a very short one. Philippe handed his brother a copy of the Epoque and said: “Read that!” The viscoypt read: “The latest news in the Faubourg is that there is a promise of marriage

between Mile. Christine Daae, sh« opera-singer, and M. le Vlcomte Raoul de Chagny. If the gossips are to be credited, Count Philippe has sworn that, for the first time on record, the Chagnys shall not keep their promise. But, as love Is all-powerful, as the opens as—and even more thair—elsewhere, we wonder how Count Philippe intends to prevent the viscount, bis brother, from leading the new Margarita to the altar. The two brothers are said to adore each other; but the count Is curiously mistaken If he imagines that brotherly love will triumph over love pure aci simple." "You see, Raoul,” said the count, “you are making us ridiculous! That little girl has turned your head with her ghoßt-storles.” The viscount had evidently repeated Christine’s narrative” to bis brother, during the night All that he now said was: “Good-by, Philippe.”

“Have you quite made up your mind? Are you going tonight? With her?” No reply. “Surely you will not do anything so foolish? 1 shall know how to prevent you!” “Good-by, Philippe,” said the viscount again and left the room. This scene was described to the ex-amining-magistrate by the count himself, who did not see Raoul again until that evening, at the opera, a Tew minutes before Christine’s disappear? ance. Raoul, In fact, devoted the whole day to his preparations for the flight. The horses, the carriage, the coachman, the provisions, the luggage, the money required for the journey, the road to be taken (he had resolved not to go by train, so as to throw the ghost off the scent); all this had to be settled and provided for; and it occupied him until nine o’clock at night. At nine o’clock, a sort of travelingbarouche with the curtains of its windows close-down, took its place in the rank on the Rotunda side. It was drawn by two powerful horses driven by a coachman whose face was almost concealed In the long folds of a muffler. In front of this travelingcarriage were three broughams, belonging respectively to Carlotta, who had suddenly returned to Paris, to Sorelli and, at the head of the rank, to Comte Philippe de Chagny. No one left the barouche. The coachman remained on his box, and the three other coachmen remained on theirs. A shadow in a long black cloak and a sou black felt hat passed along the pavement between the Rotunda and the carriages, examined the barouche carefully, went up to the horses and the coachman and then moved away without saying a word. The magistrate afterward believed that this shadow was that of the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny; but I do not agree, seeing that that evening, as every evening, the Vicomte de Chagny was Wearing a tall hat, which hat, besides. was subsequently found. I am more inclined to think that the shadow was that of the ghost, who knew all about the whole affair, as the reader will soon perceive. (TO BE CONTINUED.)

Helped.

Mrs. Willis has been very watchful of her husband’s diet lately, and Is In constant fear, lest be overeat "John," / she asked anxiously one morning when Willis had been telling her about the banquet which he bad attended the night before, “bow many helpings did you have last night?” “Two," answered Willis absently; “one at the banquet and one on the way home.” —Llppincott’a.

Have You Noticed It? My friend the stenographer says, “When an unmarried girl of about >6 or 27, has a birthday, all her relatives and married friends come to congratulate her, but in reality it isn’t congratulation; it’s condolence.” '

ra, '"“ igX-' ' WILPTJR PJSJESPIT What does this ballot mean? This printed thing Whereon are names of men I do noti know— Has it no message? Aye, It well may; bring . A vision fashioned of the long ago. I see grave men who bore the weight of! wrong Until at last they broke the slavishi chain And out of weakness grew supremely! strong— Shall what I do make them have livedi In vain? I see bold men go marching through the! night, The home-light fading dimly as they l tread. Their souls Illumined by a holy light That glows from seme celestial plaeei o’erhead. I see men hoping when all hope seems; lost, I see men daring though they face de-| feat, I see the flag above the battle tossed, I hear the drum in its insistent beat, j I hear the flfe all shrilly in the dawn, I hear the bugle blaring through th'ei smoke, I hear the tramp of thousands marching on, „ Their prayers, and the clang of saber-; stroke. I see the ships go plunging through the | -—--sea-- vWith bursts of flame as broadsides! shake the air— Ah. at the polls a man should bend thei knee For surely must his nation’s shrine be) there. A _ ’ ■ ' The nation’s flag, the nation’s faith are! here Where 1 may exercise my dear-bought! right— God pity them that lift the brows and* sneer When we tell of the ballot’s ancient; might!

Poor Soul.

“But,” we say to the lady who is an octogenarian, and whom we meet allying forth with her countenance literally plastered with cosmetics. “But surely you have better taste; than to paint your face In that manner, and to wear such giddy, fluffy garments. What would your grandchildren think? What would you—•” “I know what you are going to say,” she tells us, in a cracked, quavering voice. “I do not make myself up thus ordinarily, but this afternoon I have to ride on the street cars for a distance, and unless I adopt this disguise not a man will give me a seat.”

Efficacious.

“Yes, Mr. Janjangles, I can always make my children go to sleep, since you sent us the copy of your new lullaby,” says the mother. “Ah, and do you sing It to them?” Inquired the gratified author and composer. “No. If they are unruly, I just threaten to sing It, and they cudcjle down, and shut their eyes at once.”

To Make It Worse.

‘‘Yes,” said his Satanic Majesty the Newcomer, "we have our little resort paved with good Intentions, but we are now arranging for a lot of underground municipal improvements. You see, a number of people have recently arrived from Baltimore, and they actually profess to be delighted! with our roadways.”

Perhaps It Was Thus.

The beauteous* Lady Godiva had just completed her celebrated ride. “What in the name of time made you do such a crazy thing?” asked her family as she came into the castle. “I was simply determined to get cooled oi for once this summer,” she explained. ' -——

True Philosopher.

•Well,” mused the Defeated Pugilist, "I have one consolation. The people who elevate the stage will have to spend nearly all their receipts Jta my saloon while ttwr are t telling what a hand they got after the third act” V . ■. I