The Phantom of the Opera

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This year , I'll be reading the Phantom of the Opera , so snuggle up your blankets and have sweet dreams . It was the evening on which Madame de Beene and Poligny , the managers of the opera , were giving a last gala performance to mark their retirement .

Suddenly , the dressing room of La Sorelle , one of the principal dancers , was invaded by half a dozen young ladies of the ballet who had come up from the stage after dancing polyuked , they rushed in amid great confusion , some giving vent to forced and unnatural laughter , others to cries of terror .

Sorelli , who wished to be alone for a moment to run through the speech what she was to make to the resigning managers , looked around angrily at the mad and tumultuous crowd .

It was little Joms , the girl with the tip-tilted nose , the forget-me-not eyes , the rose-red cheeks and the lily-white neck and shoulders , who gave the explanation in a trembling voice it's the ghost , and she locked the door . It's the ghost and she locked the door .

Sorelli's dressing room was fitted up with official , commonplace elegance A pier glass , a sofa , a dressing table and a cupboard or two provided the necessary furniture . On the walls hung a few engravings , relics of the mother who had known the glories of the old opera in the Rue de Pelletier , portraits of Vestris Gardel , dupont , bigotini .

But the room seemed a palace to the brats of the Corpse de Bel-et , who were lodged in common dressing rooms where they spent their time singing , quarreling , smacking the dressers and hairdressers and buying one another glasses of Cassie's beer or even rum , until the callboy's bell rang . Sorelli was very superstitious .

She shuddered when she heard Lil' Jean speak of ghost , called her a silly little fool . And then , as she was the first to believe in ghosts in general and the opera ghost in particular , at once asked for details .

Have you seen him as plainly as I see you now , said little Jams , whose legs were giving way beneath her , and she dropped with a moan into a chair . Dropped with a moan into a chair , thereupon little Geary , the girl with eyes black as sloughs , hair black as ink , a swarthy complexion and a poor little skin stretched over poor little bones .

Little Geary added If that's a ghost , he's very ugly . Oh yes , cried the chorus of ballet girls , and they all began to talk together . The ghost had appeared to them in the shape of a gentleman in dress clothes who had suddenly stood before them in the passage without their knowing where he came from .

He seemed to have come straight through the wall , pooh , said one of them , who had more or less kept her head . You see the ghost everywhere , and it was true .

For several months there had been nothing discussed at the opera but this ghost in dress clothes who stalked about the building from top to bottom like a shadow , who spoke to nobody , to whom nobody dared speak and who vanished as soon as he was seen , no one knowing how or where , as became a real ghost . He made no noise in walking .

People began by laughing and making fun of this specter , dressed like a man of fashion or an undertaker , but the ghost legend soon swelled to enormous proportions . Among the corps de ballet , all the girls pretended to have met this supernatural being more or less often , and those who laughed the loudest were not the most at ease .

When he did not show himself , he betrayed his presence or his passing by accident , comic or serious , for which the general superstition held him responsible . Had anyone met with a fall or suffered a practical joke at the hands of one of the other girls or lost a powder puff , it was at once the fault of the ghost of the opera ghost , after all .

Who has seen him ? You meet so many men in dress clothes at the opera who are not ghosts . But this dress suit had a peculiarity of its own . It covered a skeleton , at least so the ballet girl said and of course it had a death's head . Was this all serious ?

The truth is that the idea of the skeleton came from the description of the ghost given by Joseph Bouquet , the chief scene shifter , who had really seen the ghost . He had run up against the ghost On the little staircase by the footlights which leads to the cellars .

He had seen him for a second , For the ghost had fled , and to anyone who cared to listen to him he said he is extraordinarily thin and his dress coat hangs on a skeleton frame . His eyes are so deep . He is extraordinarily thin and his dress coat hangs on a skeleton frame . His eyes are so deep that you can hardly see the fixed pupils .

You just see two big black holes , as in a dead man's skull . His skin , which is stretched across his bones like a drumhead , is not white but a nasty yellow . His nose is so little worth talking about that you can't see it side face and the absence of that nose is a horrible thing to look at .

All the hair he has is three or four long dark locks on the forehead and behind his ears . This chief scene shifter was a serious , sober , steady man , very slow at imagining things .

His words were received with interest and amazement and soon there were other people to say that they too had met a man in dress clothes with a death's head on his shoulders Sensible men who had windowed . The story began by saying that Joseph Bouquet had been the victim of a joke played by one of his assistants .

And then , one after the other , there came a series of incidents so curious and so inexplicable that the very shrewdest people began to feel uneasy . For instance , a fireman is a brave fellow . He fears nothing , least of all fire .

Well , the fireman in question would go on to make a round of inspection in the cellars and who , it seems , had ventured a little farther than usual , suddenly reappeared on the stage , pale , scared , trembling , with his eyes starting out of his head , impractically fainted , in the arms of the proud mother of little Jeans . And why ?

Because he had seen coming toward him , at the level of his head , but without a body attached to it , a head of fire . And , as I said , a fireman is not afraid of fire . The fireman's name was Pumpin . The corpse de ballet was flung into consternation .

At first sight , this fiery head in no way corresponded with Joseph Bouquet's description of the ghost , but the young ladies soon persuaded themselves that the ghost had several heads , which he changed about as he pleased , and of course they at once imagined that they were in the greatest danger .

Once the firemen did not hesitate to faint , leaders in front row and back row , girls alike had plenty of excuses for the fright that made them quick in their pace when passing some dark corner or ill-lighted corridor .

Sorelle herself , so really herself , on the day after the adventure of the firemen , placed a horseshoe on the table in front of the stage doorkeeper's box , which everyone who entered the opera otherwise than a spectator must touch before setting foot on the first tread of the staircase .

This horseshoe was not invented by me , any more than any other part of this story . Alas , it may still be seen on the table in the passage outside the stage doorkeeper's box when you enter the opera through the court known as the court of menstruation . To return to the evening in question , is the ghost Little Jamsa cried .

An agonizing silence now reigned in the dressing room . Nothing was heard but the hard breathing of the girls . At last , jams flinging herself upon the farthest corner of the wall with every mark of real terror on her face . Whispered , listen . With every mark of real tear on her face . Whispered , listen . Everybody seemed to hear a rustling outside the door .

There was no sound of footsteps . It was like light silk sliding over the panel . Then it stopped . Sorelle tried to show more pluck than the other girls . She went out to the door and , in a quavering voice , asked who's there ? But nobody answered .

Then , feeling all eyes upon her watching her last movement , she made an effort to show courage and said very loudly is there anyone behind the door ? Oh , yes , yes , of course there is , cried . That little dried plum of a mad giri , heroically holding Sorelle back by her gauze skirt . Whatever you do , don't open the door . Oh Lord , don't open the door .

But Sorelle , armed with a dagger that never left her , turned the key and drew back the door . While the ballet girls retreated to the inner dressing room and Meg Geary sighed . Sorelli looked into the passage bravely it was empty . It was empty .

A gas flame in his glass prison cast a red and suspicious light into the surrounding darkness , without succeeding in dispelling it , and the dancer slammed the door again with a deep sigh . No , she said there is no one there . With a deep sigh . No , she said there is no one there . Still , we saw him .

Jams declared , returning with timid little steps to her place beside Sorelli . He must be somewhere prowling about . I shan't go back to dress . We'd better all go down to the foyer together at once for the speech and we will come up again together .

And the child reverently touched the little coral finger ring which she wore as a charm against bad luck , while Sorelle , stealthily , with the tip of her pink right thumbnail , made a Saint Andrew's cross on the wooden ring which adorned the fourth finger of her left hand .

She said to the little ballet girls she said to the little ballet girls Come , children , pull yourselves together . I dare say no one has ever seen the ghost . Yes , yes , we saw him . We saw him just now , cried the girls . He had his death's head in his dress coat , just as when he appeared to Joseph Bouquet .

And Gabriel saw him too , said Jams , only yesterday , yesterday afternoon , in broad daylight . Gabriel , the chorus master , why , yes , didn't you know ? And he was wearing his dress clothes in broad daylight . Who Gabriel ? Why Noah the ghost ? Certainly Gabriel told me so himself . That's what he knew him by . Gabriel was in the stage manager's office .

Suddenly the door opened and the Persian entered . You know , the Persian has the evil eye . Oh , yes , answered the little ballet girls in chorus , warding off ill luck by pointing their forefinger and little finger at the absent Persian , while their second and third fingers were bent on the palm and held down by the thumb .

And you know how superstitious Gabriel is continued Joms . However , he is always polite . When he meets the Persian , he just puts his hand in his pocket and touches his keys . Well , the moment the Persian appeared in the doorway , gabriel gave one jump from his chair to the lock of the cupboard so as to touch iron .

In doing so , he tore a whole skirt of his overcoat on a nail . Praying to get out of the room , he banged his forehead against a hat peg and gave himself a huge bump . Then , suddenly , stepping back , he skinned his arm on the screen near the piano . He tried to lean on the piano but the lid fell on his hands and crushed his fingers .

He rushed out of the office like a madman , slipped on the staircase and came down the hole of the first flight on his back . I was just passing with mother . We picked him up . He was covered with bruises and his face was all over blood . We were frightened out of our lives , but all at once he began to think providence that he had got off so cheaply .

Then he told us what had frightened him . He had seen the ghost behind the Persian , the ghost with the death's head . Just like Joseph Bouquet's description , Joms had told her story ever so quickly , as though the ghost were at her heels and was quite out of breath at the finish . The silence followed while Sorelli polished her nails in great excitement .

It was broken by Lil' Geary who said Joseph Bouquet would do better to hold his tongue . Why should he hold his tongue , asked somebody . That's mother's opinion , replied Meg . That's mother's opinion , replied Meg , lowering her voice and looking all about her as though fearing lest others hear than those present might overhear . And why is it your mother's opinion ?

Hush mother says the ghost doesn't like being talked about . And why does your mother say so ? Because , because nothing . This reticence exasperated the curiosity of the young ladies who crowded round little Giri begging her to explain herself .

They were there side by side , leaning forward simultaneously , in one movement of entreaty and fear , communicating their terror to one another , taking a keen pleasure in feeling their blood freeze in their veins .

I swore not to tell , gasped Meg , but they left her no peace and promised to keep the secret until Meg , burning to say all she knew , began with her eyes fixed on the door . Well , it's because of the private box . What private box ? The ghost box . Has the ghost a box ? Oh , do tell us , do tell us , not so loud , said Meg , it's box five .

You know the box on the grand tier next to the stage box on the left ? Oh , nonsense , I tell you it is . Mother has charge of it . I swear you won't say a word , of course , of course . Well , that's the ghost box . No one has had it for over a month except the ghost , and orders have been given at the box office that it must never be sold .

And does the ghost really come there ? Yes , and somebody does come , why ? No , the ghost comes , but there is nobody there . The little ballet girls exchanged glasses . If the ghost came to the box , he must be seen because he wore a dress , coat and death's head . This is what they tried to make Meg understand , but she replied that's just it .

The ghost is not seen and he has no dress , coat and no head . All that talk about his death's head and his head of fire is nonsense . There's nothing in it . You only hear him when he is in the box . There's nothing in it . You only hear him when he is in the box . Mother has never seen him , but she has heard him .

Mother knows , because she gives him his program . Sorelli interfered Geary child , you're getting at us . Thereupon , little Geary began to cry . I ought to have held my tongue if mother ever came to know . But I was quite right . Joseph Bouquet had no business to talk of things that don't concern him . It will bring him bad luck . Mother was saying so last night .

There was a sound of hurried and heavy footsteps in the passage and a breathless voice cried Cecil , cecil , are you there ? It's Mother's voice , said Joms , what's the matter ? She opened the door . A respectable lady , built on the lines of a Pomeranian grenadier , burst into the dressing room and dropped groaning into a vacant armchair .

Her eyes rolled madly in her brick , dust-colored face . How awful , she said . How awful . What , what ? Joseph Bouquet ? What about him ? Joseph Bouquet is dead . The room became filled with exclamations , with astonished outcries , with scared requests for explanations . Yes , he was found hanging in the third floor cellar . It's the ghost .

Little Geary blurted as though in spite of herself . But at once she crooked herself with her hands pressed against her mouth . No , no , I didn't say it . I didn't say it . All around her , her panic-stricken companions repeated under their breaths yes , it must be the ghost . Sorelli was very pale . I shall never be able to recite my speech . She said .

Majans gave her opinion while she emptied a glass of liqueur that happened to be standing on a table . While she emptied a glass of liqueur that happened to be standing on a table , the ghost must have something to do with it . The truth is that no one ever knew how Joseph became at his death . The verdict at the inquest was natural suicide .

In his memoirs of manager , monsieur Monchemin , one of the joint managers who succeeded Madame de Bien in Poligny , describes the incident as follows A grievous accident spoiled the little party which Madame Debienne and Pligny gave to celebrate their retirement . I was in the manager's office and Mercier , the acting manager , suddenly came darting in .

He seemed half-mad and told me that the body of a scene-shifter had been found hanging in the third cellar , under the stage between a farmhouse and a scene from the King of L'Eau . I shouted Come and cut him down . By the time I had rushed down the staircase and the Jacob's Ladder , the man was no longer hanging from his rope .

So this is an event which Monsieur Mon Charmin thinks is natural . The man hangs at the end of a rope , the goad cut him down . The rope has disappeared . Oh , monsieur Marchand-Mine found a very simple explanation . Listen to him . It was just after the ballet and leaders and dancing girls lost no time in taking their precautions against the evil eye .

There you are . Picture the corpse de ballet scuttling down the Jacob's Ladder and dividing the suicide's rope amongst themselves in less time than it takes to write .

When , on the other hand , I think of the exact spot where the body was discovered , the third cellar underneath the stage , imagine that somebody must have been interested in seeing that the rope disappeared after it had affected its purpose . I wonder if that's true , and time will show if I'm wrong .

The horrid news soon spread all over the opera , where Joseph Bouquet was very popular . The dressing rooms emptied and the ballet girls crowding around Sorelli like timid sheep around the shepherdess made for the foyer through the ill-lit passages and staircases , trotting as fast as their little pink legs could carry no-transcript . No-transcript ¶¶ .

© transcript Emily Beynon . Thank you .