Christine's Madness
Chapter 9: A Night at Madame Kable's
The train pulled into the station at Dieppe and Erik gestured for this companions to depart. The train did not go as far as the coastal village they were headed for. This city was as far as the steam beast could carry them.
Christine swayed and moaned like a stiff zombie and drew attention to herself and her two strange companions. The stares made Erik nervous and he grabbed the nearest station clerk to assist him.
"Boy! Fetch me a carriage and load these trunks."
"Yes sir. Right away sir."
Within minutes the trunks and women were shoved into a cabman's care. Erik ordered the driver to take him to a place known to him by reputation only. A place that for the right price, he and Christine would be cared for and quickly forgotten.
Madame Kable's ears perked at the sound of the cab outside her door. She flew outside to inspect the prospects. Cold and indifferent to them at first sight she quickly warmed into a gracious hostess when the first of many gold coins were dropped into her hands.
"Good evening and welcome madames and monsieur. My son Luc will attend to your luggage. Come in. Come in my dears."
Madame Kable's home did not call attention to itself inside or out. It was just large enough to suit her, her son Luc, and a handful of guests. She was a woman of business, the business of keeping guests whom no one else wanted to keep. It was a profitable enough business though sometimes dangerous. There was always good reason that the reputable inns and lodges did not want the guests that she lodged.
She eyed Erik's mask, the sickly looking gentlewoman he helped into the foyer, and the ratty looking servant girl loitering at her front door. Trouble all three of them.
Luc, a gangly looking boy of fifteen, slinked past the guests handling Christine's trunks as best as he could. Colette in her own ill manned way took a long look at Luc as he climbed up the stairs. They were about the same age and this was the first boy she had ever met that was not from her own neighborhood. She had not decided if she was in love with him yet, but she thought she would consider it. This boy would surely inherit this house when his old crone of a mother died. Nicer than her father's tavern, Colette began to take inventory of the place.
Madame Kable did not like the look of the ratty looking girl or the way she eyed all of her belongings including her son. She especially did not like the stump of a tongue the girl tried to keep hidden in her mouth. Someone had cut that tongue out. That was obvious enough. Madame Kable would deal with the girl as needed, but back to the matter at hand, the man who paid her.
"Will you be dining with us this evening sir?"
"Is there privacy?"
"Oui monsieur! Like a hidden fortress is my kitchen. Come. Come and dine."
Madame Kable escorted them through a darkened hallway past the modest sitting room and into the steaming kitchen. On the stove some sort of a soup was boiling and burping away. A small pine table sat in the corner that could sit at most five people. Erik removed Christine's cloak and set her down at the table. He himself removed his own cape in a particularly grand flourish. His years in the opera house had taught him to play to the balcony so to speak. His performance turned out to be for no one in particular. Christine was still locked inside her own dazed melancholy. Colette was too busy taking inventory of the place she had already decided was her own. Madame Kable was too preoccupied slapping the ratty girl's hands for opening a drawer to see what was inside. Colette retreated to the pine table scowling at the innkeeper.
"Monsieur I have been preparing a leek soup. Will this meal suffice?"
"For the women." he growled lowering his masked face away.
"And for you monsieur?"
"Nothing."
"As you wish."
Madame Kable took for out her cupboard a pseudo-elegant bowl for Christine. It was an imitation of a Far East design with blue pagodas and dragons lining the outside. She ladled the soup and placed it delicately in front of the gentlewoman with a silver plated spoon. For Colette she haphazardly ladled soup into a chipped clay bowl with a wooden spoon and slammed it down in front of Colette. Colette made a rude face at the woman's blatant slight.
Madame Kable paused for a moment hoping she had not misjudged the girl's place in this trio. If she was not a servant and in fact this villainous man's daughter, the slight might mean trouble for her and her son. She looked to the man scowling in the shadows. He seemed to have an equally low opinion of the ratty looking girl. The slight had been acceptable. Madame Kable continued to fuss over the dazed looking gentlewoman placing fresh bread and wine in front of her. She heartily ignored the street rat. Annoyed by her fussing Erik spoke to her.
"That will be all madame. Please leave us." Madame Kable stopped mid-step. She turned to him and bowed.
"I shall be in the next room should you need anything."
Colette began eating her soup like a mongrel, slurping it into her gullet. Christine sat poised spoon in hand, but made no movement to start.
"Eat Christine" Erik ordered her. She looked at him glass eyed and spoke.
"It is improper for me to begin before the gentleman. I must wait."
"I am not eating. Begin Christine." He ordered again. She shook her head defiantly. He moved towards her frustrated by whatever strange table manners Raoul de Chagny had taught her to obey. He grabbed the soup ladle from the pot and took a scalding sip showing her he had eaten. He tossed the ladle back into the pot.
"Eat!" he ordered her a final time. Christine brought the spoon delicately it her lips and began. Erik grunted at the sight and began to pace the room.
The day had not gone entirely as he had planned. He had successfully gotten Christine out of Paris, but there was already one dead body left in their wake. He did not want to leave breadcrumbs for Raoul de Chagny to follow. He knew he had to take better care in suppressing his murderous temper.
Erik's mind turned to the boy handling Christine's trunks. Where was that boy now? He had not seen or heard him since he first slinked past them to carry the baggage upstairs to the bedrooms. Erik eyed the back stairwell.
"Colette stay here. Should either of you move from that table I will torture you. Do you understand?" Colette nodded and focused her wary eye back on the soup trying not to show here fear.
Erik moved quickly to the stairwell and silently rose to the floor above. A dusty and dirty runner lay along the length of the upstairs hallway helping to muffle his steps. Towards the middle of the hallway a door was left slightly ajar. Erik pushed the door open slowly so not to alert the boy within. The room was modest. A large bed took up most of the space. Christine's trunks lay neatly stacked on the floor.
Luc knelt crouched before one of the trunks. He had taken the liberty of opening it. He pulled a silk chemise out to the box and whistled. Erik grabbed the nearest weapon he could find, the tattered braided rope from off the drapes. He swiftly moved behind the boy and brought the rope taught around his neck and pulled.
Luc struggled gasping for air, flailing his arms trying to push at his attacker. He coughed and choked moving desperately to break free; Erik relented and dropped the boy to the floor. Looking up Luc saw the masked man and tried to apologize.
"Plee…ease. I was just looking. I did not steal."
Erik pulled the boy up only to push him hard on his chest, tumbling Luc backwards over Christine's trunks.
"Insolent boy. How dare you touch her things."
Tears poured down Luc's cheeks. His nose was dripping, the snot spattered outwards as he made desperate gasps. Luc clenched his eyes shut inwardly praying he might actually live to see another day. Madame Kable heard the noises above and ran up the stairs to see what was that matter. Erik heard her from behind.
"Get up" Erik told the boy coldly. Luc did so crying and not trying to look the masked man or his mother in the eye.
"For the money I am paying you I would appreciate you son not stealing our things."
"Apologies sir. It will never happen again." Madame Kable grabbed Luc by the arm and pulled him hastily out of the room. Erik restacked his Christine's trunk into perfect alignment and returned to the kitchen.
In the sitting room Madame Kable begin to reprimand her son.
"Mon dui! Do you want us to be killed?!"
"No mama."
"How many times must I tell you not to look through the boxes?"
"I'm sorry mama. She was just so pretty. I wanted to see her things."
"You will ruin my business boy. You and your curiosity."
"She is very rich mama."
"That is none of our concern."
"She had a pretty silk gown."
"Enough Luc. Consider yourself lucky he did not kill you. He still might should you do anything else foolish."
"Can we keep the girl mama?"
"What?"
"The girl. I feel badly for her mama. He must be an awful father."
"She is a servant. She is not his daughter."
"How do you know?"
"I am far smarter than you boy. I know many things."
"I like the girl mama."
"She is a mute and a thief. You are not allowed to like her."
"A mute is not so bad. She would be a very good listener."
"And what would she listen to? You? Ha! What do you have to say that is so very interesting?"
"It would just be nice to have a friend. I think she is pretty."
"Oh mon dui! Why must I be cursed with a son such as you? Luc you will forget these people as soon as they leave this house. Especially the girl. Promise me!"
"Yes mama. But I cannot help it if I like her. I do like her."
"Luc so help me I will let that man strangle you if you keep this nonsense up."
"No mama. I am sorry mama."
Erik and Christine entered into the sitting room, Colette trailing behind. Madame Kable rose to great them and have them sit.
"No madame, we shall be retiring to our room." Erik spoke.
"Oh…of course."
"Do not let the boy retire yet, I have errands for him." Madame Kable looked at her red-necked son warily.
"Of course sir. We are at your service sir."
Erik brought Christine to the bedroom and lay her down on the bed. She looked at him dreary eyed.
"Rest Christine. Our journey is not yet complete. Rest here now." She closed her eyes and drifted quickly away. Colette stirred in the corner.
"You stay here. Sit in that chair." She did as he said.
"I have things to do. If either of you leaves this room…" Colette shook her head before he could threaten her again. She would stay here. She would make sure that madwoman staid as well.
Erik met Madame Kable and Luc at the bottom of the stairs.
"Boy. I have made arrangements for a carriage and horse to be brought here. They are to come at three in the morning. My companions and I will have an early start. I have made a list of provisions I shall need." Erik handed Madame Kable the list written in red ink.
"I need all of these things brought here before the carriage arrives. I will pay you well. How you gather these things is of no concern to me. Purchased or stolen matters little. Just that I have them all before I depart. Do you understand?"
Madame Kable and her son nodded in acknowledgement and the boy set out into the night. By three o'clock that morning everything had been gathered and a team of black horses lay in wait outside the front door. An unconscious Christine was carried and placed into the carriage compartment, the trunks bound to the outside. Colette reluctantly entered the carriage, squeezing Luc's hand before she did. They both looked at each other knowingly, as only two children from desperate situations could do. Erik sat in the drivers seat and spurned the horses forward. They quickly disappeared down the street and out of sight.
Madame Kable placed the money from the evening in her secret locked box and entered into her secret journal a description of her latest guests. With it she placed the red inked list of provisions. For a woman who preached to her son to forget, she was one never to forget. Memory and evidence of unscrupulous guest always came in handy sooner or later.
