Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 199, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1912 — The PHANTOM OF THE OPERA [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The PHANTOM OF THE OPERA

by Gaston Leroux

'AllbTiOT' o/° THE • MYSTERY •OP ■ THE • YELLOW ROOManaf THE-PERFUME OF TME LADY- INbLACKIllu&tjr<stiio.n&£>y Copyright: /g// by The 3obbs-Mem7i Company

- ■ 1» SYNOPSIS. Consternation is caused on the last night that the Opera 1b managed by Deblenne and Poligny because of the appearance of 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 ft 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 reicelve a letter from the Opera Ghost calling attention to the error. Christine • Daae writes Raoul that she has gone to visit the grave of her father. He goes also, and In the night follows her. ,tp the church. Wonderful violin music Is heard. Raoul visits a graveyard. Raoul Is found next morning almost frqzen. Moncharmin and .Richard investigate Bf>x 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 warned to gfre the . part to Christine. Carlotta, refusing, loses her voice in the middle f a song and the main chandelier rashes 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 person in the disguise of Red Death. He 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 ajrolar expedition that Raoul is to make. Christine relates a strange adventure, with the unseen Erik and promises to run away with Raoul. Raoul announces his intention of marrying Christine, which displeases Philippe. In the midst of a performance the stage is enveloped in darkness and Christine disappears. No trace of her Is found. Moncharmln and Richard behave strangely. Raoul searches madly for the missing singer.

CHAPTER XVI. (Continued.) And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry’s excited features to understand what could be got out of that tine intellect with the two words "ghost” and "empress.” But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? That was the question. “You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he says?" asked Moncharmln. “Yes. To begin with, 1 owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted to be the leader of a row. 1 said to the ghost, 'if she Is to be empress in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at once.* He said, 'Look upon it as done-* And he had only a word to say to M. Poligny and the thing was done.” “So you see that M. Pollgny saw him! ” “No, not any more than* I did; but he heard him. The ghost said a word In his_ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, looking so dreadfully pale.” Moncharmin heaved a sigh. “What a business!” he groaned. “Ah!” said Mme. Glry. “1 always thought there were secrets between the ghost and M. 'Foligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Pollgny to do M. Poligny did. M. Pollgny could refuse (he ghost nothing.” “You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing.” “Yes, yes, I hear!” said Richard. “M. Poligny is a friend of the ghost; and, as Mme. Glry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! . But 1 don’t care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. “The only person whose fate really interests me Is Mme. Glry. . . . Mme. Glry, do rou know what is in this envelope?" “Why, of course not,” she said. “Well, look.” r 1

Mme. Giry looked Into tile envelope with a lack-luster eye. which soon recovered Its brilliancy. "Thousand-franc notes’" she cried. ••Yes, Mme. Giry.” thousand-franc notes! And you knew it!" “I. sir? I? . . . 1 swear . “Don’t swear, Mme. Giry! . . . And now I will tell you the second reason why 1 sent for you. Mme. Giry, I art going to have you arrested.” The two lilack feathers on the dingy bonnet, which usually affected the attitude of swo notes of Intel rogation, changed Into two notes of exclamation,' as for the bonnet Itself, it swayed In menace on the old lady’s tempestuous chignon. Surprise, indignation, protest and dismay were furthermore displayed by little Meg’s mother in a sort of extravagant movement of offended virtue, half bound, half slide, that brought her right under the nose ofM. Richard, who could not help pushing back his chair. “Hav,e me arrested!” The mouth that spoke those words seemed to spit the three teeth that were left to it Into Richard’s face. M. Richard behaved like a hero. He retreated no farther. His threatening forefinger seemed already to be pointing out the keeper of Box Five to the absent magistrates. "1 am going to havetyou arrested. Mme Giry, as a thief!”

“Say that again!” And Mme. Giry caught Mr. Manager Richard a mighty box on the ear, before Mr. Manager Moncharmln had time to intervene. - But it was not the withered hand of the angry old beldame that fell on the managerial ear, but the envelope Itself, the cause of all the trouble, the magic envelope that opened with the blow, scattering the bank-notes, which escaped in a fantastic whirl, of giant butterflies. The two-managers gave a shout, and the same thought made them both go on their knees, feverishly picking up and hurriedly examining the precious scrape of paper. “Are they still genuine, Moncbarmin?” “Are they still genuine, Richard?” “Yes, they are still genuine!” Above their heads, Mame Glry’s three teeth were clashing in a noisy contest, full of hideous interjections. But all that could be clearly distinguished was this -Leit-motif: “1, athferr.. . I, a thief, 1rShe choked with rage. She shouted: “I never heard of such a thing!" And, suddenly, she darted up to Richard again. “In any case," she yelped, “you, M. Richard, ought to know better than 1 where the twenty thousand francs went to!” - “I?” asked Richard, astounded.' "And how should 1 know?” Moncharmln, looking severe and dissatisfied, at once Insisted that the good lady should explain herself. “What does this mean, Mme. Giry?” he asked. “And. why -do you say that M. Richard ought to know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs went to?”

As for Richard, who felt himself turning red under Moncharmhrt eyes, he took Mme. Glry by the wrist and shook it violently. In a voice growling and rolling like thunder, he roared: “Why should 1 know better than you where the twenty-thousand francs went to? Why? Answer me!” "Because they went Into your pocket!” gasped the old woman, looking at him as if he were the devil Incarnate. Richard would have. rushed upon Mme. Giry, if Moncharmin had not stayed his avenging hand and hastened to ask her, more gently: “How can you suspect my partner, M. Richard, of putting twenty-thou-sand francs in his pocket?" “1 never said that,” declared Mme. Giry, “seeing that it was myself, who put the twenty-thousand francs Into M. Richard's pocket.” And she added, under -her voice. “There! „ It's out! . . And may the. ghost forgive me!" Richard began bellowing anew, but Moncharmln authoritatively ordered him to be silent. “Allow me! Allow me! Let the woman explain herself. Let me question her." And he added: “It is really astonishing that you should take up such a tone! ... We are on the verge of clearing up the whole mystery. And you’re in a rage! . . . You’re wrong to behave like that. . . I’m enjoying myself immensely.” Marne Giry, like the martyr that she was, raised her head, her face beaming with faith in her own innocence. “You tell me there wefe twentythousand francs in the envelope which I put into M. Richard’s pocket; but I tell you again that I knew nothing about it . Nor M. Richard, either, for that matter!”

“Aha!” said Richard, suddenly assuming a swaggering air which Moncharmln did not like. “1 knew nothing either! You put twenty-thousand francs in my pocket and 1 knew nothing either! I am very glad to hear it, Mme. Giry!” “Yes,” the terrible dame agreed, “yes, It’s true. We neither of us knew anything. But you, you must have ended by finding out!” Richard would certainly have swallowed Marne Giry alive, if Moncharmin had not been there! But Moncharmln protected her. He resumed his questions: “What sort of envelope did you put In M. Richard’s pocket? It was not the one which we gave you, the one which you took to Box Five before our eyes; and yet that was the one which contained the twenty-thousand francs." "I beg your pardon. The envelope which M. le directeur gave me was the one which 1 slipped into M. le dtrecteur’s pocket,” explained Maine Giry. “The one which { took to the ghost’s.box was another envelope, just like it, which the ghost gave me beforehand and which I hid up my sleeve." So saying. Mame Giry took from her sleeve an envelope ready prepared and Similarly addressed to that containing the twenty-thousand francs. The managers took It from her. They examined it and saw.that it was fastened with seals stamped with their own

managerial seal. They opened tt. ft contained twenty Bank of St Farce notes like those which had so much astounded them the month before, “How simple!” said Richard. “How simple!” repeated Moncharmin. And he continued his eyes fixed upon Mame Giry, as though trying to hypnotize her. “So it was the ghost who gave you this envelope and told you to substitute it for the one which we gave you? And it was the ghost who told you to put the other into M. Richard's pocket?” "Yes, It was the ghost” “Then would you mind giving us a specimen of your little talents? Here is the’, envelope. Act as though we knew nothing.” “As you please, gentlemen." Mame Giry took the envelope with the twenty notes inside lit and made for the door. She was on the point of going oiit when the two managers rushed at her.' - “Oh, no! Oh, no! We’re not going to be ‘done’ a second time! Once bitten, twice shy!” “I beg your pardon, gentlemen," said the old woman, in self-excuse, “you told me to act as though you knew nothing. . . • Well, if you knew nothing, 1 should go away with your envelopeT’ “And then how would you slip it into my pocket?” argued Richard, .whom Mg&charmin fixed with his left eye, while keeping his right on Mame Giry; a proceeding—likely to strain his sight, but Moncharmln was prepared to go to any length to discover the truth. “I am to slip it into your pocket when you least expect it, sir. You know that 1 always take a little turn behind the 'scenes, in the course of in order to bow, Richard continued to do so from prudence, until he the evening, and I often go with my daughter to the ballet-foyer, which 1 am entitled to do, 4 as her mother; 1 bring her her shoes, when the ballet iB about to begin . . tn faet, 1 come and go as 1 please. . . . The subscribers come and go too. . . . So do you, sir. . . . There are lots of people about. . . Igo behind you and slip the envelope into the tailpocket of your dress-coat. , . . There’s no witchcraft about that!” “No witchcraft?” growled Richard, rolling his eyes like Jupiter Tonans. “No witchcraft! Why, I’ve Just caught you In a He, you old witch!" Mame Giry bristled, with her three teeth sticking out of her mouth. “And why, may 1 ask?” “Because 1 spent that evening

watching Box Five and the sham envelope which you put there. I did not go to the ballet-foyer for a second.” “No, sir, and I did not give you the envelope that evening, but at the next performance ... on the evening when the under-secretary of state for fine arts ...” * At these words. M. Richard suddenly interrupted Mame Giry: "Yes, that’s true, 1 remember now! The under-secretary went behind the scenes. He asked for me. I went down to the ballet-foyer for a moment Iwas on the foyer steps. . . The under-secretary and his chief clerk were in the foyer itself. . . . I suddenly turned around . . . you had passed behind me, Mme. Giry. . . . You seemed to push against me. . . . Oh, I can see you still, 1 can see you still!” "Yes, that’s it sir. that’s it 1 bad just finished my little business. That pocket of yours, sir, is very handy!” And Mame Giry once more suited the actios to the word. She passed behind M. Richard and, so nimbly that Moncharmin himself was impressed by it. slipped the envelope into the pocket of one of the tails of M. Richard’s dress-coat . 'J “Of course!” exclaimed Richard, looking a little pale. "It’s very clever of O. G. The problem which be had to solve was this: how to do away with any dangerous intermediary bo-

tween the man who gives the twentythousand francs and the man who receives it And by far the best thing he could hit upon was to come and take the money from my pocket without my noticing It, as 1 myself did not know that it was there. It’s wonderful!" ~ “Oh, wonderful, no doubt!" Moncharmin agreed. “Only, you forget, Richard, that I provided ten-thousand francs of the twenty and that nobody put anything in my pocket!" CHAPTER XVII. The Safety-Pin Again. Moncharmln’s last phrase so clearly expressed the suspicion In which he now held his partner that it was bound to cause a stormy explanation, at the end of which it was agreed that Richard should yield to all Moncharmln’s wishes, with the object of helping him to discover the miscreant, who was victimizing them. This brings us to the interval after the Garden Act, with the strange conduct observed by M. Remy and those curious lapses from the dignity that might be expected of the managers. It was arranged between Richard and Moncharmln, first, that Richard should repeat the exact movements which be had made on the night of the disappearance at the first twenty-thousand francs; and, second, that Moncharmln should not for an instant lose sight of Richard's coat-tail pocket, into which Mame Giry was to slip the twenty-thousand francs. M. Richard went and placed himself at the identical spot where be had stood when he bowed to the un-der-secretary for fine arts. M. Moncharmln took up his position a few steps behind him Mame Giry passed, rubbed up against M. Richard, got rid of her twenty-thousand franc* in the manager’s coat-tail pocket and disappeared. . . Or, rather, she was conjured away. In accordance with the instructions received from Moncharmin a few minutes earlier, Mercier took the good lady to the acting-manager’s office and turned the key on her, thus making it impossible for her to communicate with her ghost. Meanwhile, M. Richard was bending and bowing and scraping and walking backward, Just as if he had that high and mighty inlnister. the under-secre-tary for fine arts, before him. Only, though, these marks of politeness would have cneated no astonishment if the under-secretary of state had really been in front of M. Richard, (hey caused an easily comprehensible

amazement to the spectators of this very natural but quite inexplicable scene when M. Richard had nobody in front of him. M. Richard bowed . to nobody; bent his back . . . before nobody; and walked backward . . .

before nobody. . . . Ant, « few steps jbehind him, M. Moncharmln did the same thing that he was doing, in addition to pushing away M. Remy and begging M> de La Borderie, the ambassador and the manager of the Credit Central, "not to touch M. le directeur." Moncharmln. who had his own ideas, did not want Richard to come to him presently, when the twentythousand francs were gone, and say: "Perhaps it was the ambassador . . . or the manager of the Credit Central . . . or Remy.” The more so as, at the time of the -first scene, as Richard himself admitted, Richard had met nobody in that part of the theater after Mame Giry had brushed up against him. . . Having begun by walking backward in order to bow, Richard continued to do so .from prudence, until he reached the passage leading to the offices of the management. In this way, he was constantly watched by Moncharmln from behind and himself kept an eye on any one approaching from the front Once more, this novel method of walking behind the scenes, adopted |>y the managers of our National Academy of Music, attracted attention; but the managers themselves thought of nothing but their twenty-thousand francs. On reaching the half-dark passage, Richard said to Moncharmin, in a low voice: “I am sure that nobody has touched me. . You had now better keep at some distance from me and watch me till I come to the door of the office; it is better not to arouse susplcion and we can see anything that happens." But Moncharmln replied, "No, Richard, no! You walk ahead and I'll walk Immediately behind you! 1-won’t leave you by a step!” “But, in that case," exclaimed Richard, "they will never steal our twentythousand francs !’*_ ■ “I should hope not, indeed!" declared Moncharmln. "Then what we are doing is absurd ! ” “We are doing exactly what wje did last time. . . . Last time, 1 joined you as you were leaving the stage and followed close behind you down passage. ~ : ~ “That’s true!” sighed Richard, shaking his head and passively obeying Moncharmln. Two minutes later, the Joint managers locked themselves into their office. Moncharmln himself 'put the key in his pocket: “We remained locked up like this, last time,” he said, “until you left the opera to go home.” “That’s so. No one came and disturbed us, I suppose?" “No one.” "Then," said Richard, who was trying. to collect his memory, “then I must certainly have been fobbed on my way home from the opera!" “No,” said Moncharmln in a drier tone than ever, “no, that’s impossible. For I dropped you In my cab: The twenty-thousand francs disappeared at your place; there’s not a shadow of a doubt about that.” “It’s Incredible!” protested Richard. “I am sure of my servants . . . and if one of them had done it, he would have disappeared since." Moncharmln shrugged bls shoulders, as though to say that he did not wl#h to enter into details, and-Richard, began to think that Moncharmin was treating him in a very Insupportable fashion.

Mme. Giry Caught Mr. Manager Richard a Mighty Box on the Ear.