Kitabı oku: «Призрак оперы / The Phantom of the Opera», sayfa 7
“Richard asked half-seriously and half in jest:
‘But, after all, what does this ghost of yours want?’
M. Poligny went to his desk and returned with a copy of the memorandum-book27. The copy produced by M. Poligny was written in black ink and exactly similar to that in our possession, except that, at the end, it contained a paragraph in red ink and in a queer handwriting. This paragraph ran, word for word, as follows:
“‘5. If the manager, in any month, delays for more than a fortnight the payment of the allowance which he shall make to the Opera ghost, an allowance of twenty thousand francs a month, say two hundred and forty thousand francs a year.’
M. Poligny pointed with a hesitating finger to this last clause, which we certainly did not expect.
‘Is this all? Does he not want anything else?’ asked Richard, with the greatest coolness.
‘Yes, he does,’ replied Poligny.
And he turned over the pages of the memorandum-book until he came to the clause:
‘Box Five on the grand tier shall be placed at the disposal of the Opera ghost for every performance.’
‘So you see, two hundred and forty thousand francs are not nothing,’ said M. Poligny. ‘And have you considered what the loss over Box Five meant to us? It’s awful! We really can’t work to keep ghosts! We prefer to go away!’
‘Yes,’ echoed M. Debienne, ‘we prefer to go away. Let us go.’”
And he stood up. Richard said: ‘But, after all, it seems to me that you were much too kind to the ghost. If I had such a troublesome ghost as that, I should not hesitate to have him arrested.’
‘But how? Where?’ they cried, in chorus. ‘We have never seen him!’
‘But when he comes to his box?’
‘We have never seen him in his box.’
‘Then sell it.’
‘Sell the Opera ghost’s box! Well, gentlemen, try it.’
Thereupon we all four left the office. Richard and I had never laughed so much in our lives.”
Chapter IV
Armand Moncharmin wrote voluminous Memoirs during the long period of his co-management. He was a charming fellow and showed that he was not lacking in intelligence, for he selected the best possible active manager and went straight to Firmin Richard.
Firmin Richard was a famous composer, who had published a number of successful pieces of all kinds and who liked nearly every form of music and every sort of musician.
They had forgotten all about that curious, fantastic story of the ghost, when an incident occurred that proved to them that the joke was not over. M. Firmin Richard reached his office that morning at eleven o’clock. His secretary, M. Remy, showed him half a dozen letters which he had not opened because they were marked “private.” One of the letters had at once attracted Richard’s attention, the envelope was addressed in red ink. He soon remembered that it was the red handwriting in which the memorandum-book had been so curiously completed. He recognized the clumsy childish hand. He opened the letter and read:
Dear Mr. Manager,
I am sorry to have to trouble you at a time when you must be so very busy. I know what you have done for Carlotta, Sorelli and little Jammes and for a few others whose admirable qualities of talent or genius you have suspected.
Of course, when I use these words, I do not mean to apply them to La Carlotta, who sings like a squirt; nor to La Sorelli, who owes her success mainly to the coach-builders28; nor to little Jammes, who dances like a calf in a field. And I am not speaking of Christine Daae either, though her genius is certain.
I should like to ask you to hear Christine Daae this evening in the part of Siebel29; and I will ask you not to dispose of my box today nor on the following days. I was disagreeably surprised to hear, on arriving at the Opera, that my box had been sold, at the box-office, by your orders.
I did not protest, first, because I dislike scandal, and, second, because I thought that your predecessors, MM. Debienne and Poligny, who were always charming to me, had neglected, before leaving, to mention my little fads to you. I have now received a reply from those gentlemen to my letter asking for an explanation, and this reply proves that you know all about my Memorandum-Book and, consequently, that you are treating me with outrageous contempt. If you wish to live in peace, you must not begin by taking away my private box.
Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant,
Opera Ghost.
M. Firmin Richard had hardly finished reading this letter when M. Armand Moncharmin entered, carrying one exactly similar. They looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“They are keeping up the joke,” said M. Richard, “but I don’t call it funny.”
“What does it all mean?” asked M. Moncharmin. “Do they imagine that, because they have been managers of the Opera, we are going to let them have a box for an indefinite period?”
