Chapter 25
It was not hard to obtain permission for Louis to live with the Muhlheims. As Louis had told Erik, his aunt and uncle were an elderly couple and were not terribly disappointed that Louis preferred to live with Erik. The couple had never had any children and did not know what to do with one. Louis was thrilled that he was permitted to become a member of the Muhlheim family. From that day forward, even though Erik and Christine did not legally adopt Louis, they treated him as if he were their own son. They engaged a fine governess to teach Louis. Erik also was able to find a well -regarded manager to put in charge of the day to day operation of the Lemieux firm. Erik then employed the firm to estimate what renovations were needed to make Julien's Chateau in Bordeaux habitable. Erik took a quick trip down to look over the estate. He visited several neighboring establishments to see what involvement was needed to transform the Chateau into a winemaking venture. He spent the trip back drawing up plans which of course would need to be sent to Argentina for the Baron's perusal.
Raoul recovered quickly from his injuries. Erik did spend some time designing a prosthetic arm that would give the missing limb a lifelike appearance, just like the mannequin that he once had of Christine. As a joke he manufactured a similar one of Raoul. He dressed him in the most outrageously foppish clothing that he could find. He employed Christine to help him. Unlike her reaction, years ago, to her own mannequin, this one elicited no feeling of fear of Erik's intentions. She knew that he wanted to keep Raoul from falling into any sort of despair. He thought that the fake Raoul would put a smile on his friend's face. He thought about putting a Punjab lasso around the mannequin's neck but feared that the joke might prove a little distasteful to Raoul given his recent injuries.
Erik still felt terribly guilty that his past continued to haunt them so completely, and that people from that dark time still wanted to hurt him. There were times that he had the urge to slip away in the night, but he never allowed his darker side to hold too much sway. Christine could see that Erik could not yet return to his more recent lighter more open persona. She hoped that he would not give in to these occasional bouts of dread. Erik and Nadir used their influence to receive permission for Erik and Raoul to travel to Devil's Island to interview Philippe. Neither Erik nor Raoul were particularly thrilled to be leaving their wives behind in France while they sailed across the Atlantic. Fortunately with the new steamship service across the Ocean, the journey was not as long as it once was. The journey was expected to take around two weeks by steamship. Erik reserved two first class staterooms side by side for the journey.
They did not intend to spend any time in French Guiana. Erik reserved passage back on the same ship that would bring them there. Neither man enjoyed leaving their families behind but did not think that a malaria infested island was any place for women or children to visit. They hoped to someday visit New York City. Erik had invested in an amusement park on Coney Island where he had designed several of the attractions, including his signature hall of mirrors; but despite his American partner's pleas for Erik to visit the park, he had no interest in doing so for the time being. Erik considered such amusements to be a little vulgar compared to what he could achieve in his compositions for the Opera Populaire. The man, Mr. Putnam, did convince him to write a few compositions for his patrons in the park. He promised the man that at some point in the near future he would come to New York for a month or so and suggest other improvements to the facility. It was not one of his major investments. There were times that even Erik had difficulty keeping track of all of his assets and investments. He was increasingly forced to rely on other managing partners to keep his enterprises running smoothly without a great deal of his personal involvement. Erik was careful to invest only in the most trustworthy enterprises.
A month prior to the commencement of their voyage to French Guiana Erik presented Raoul with both the prosthetic arm and the mannequin. Erik was eager to see whether his improvements upon the existing technology worked. The physician in Rouen that Erik worked closely with was impressed by the realistic qualities that the arm possessed. Most of his patients who wore such prosthetics had to suffice with a hook for a hand, but Erik did not want his friend to have to live with such an ugly contraption. The prosthetic arm that Erik designed worked well for what it was. It would obviously never be the same as a natural arm but Raoul was able to use it better than he might have if using a conventional prosthesis and it looked very good. Raoul did laugh at the mannequin of him that Erik made, especially the ridiculous costume that he was wearing. When he exclaimed that he would never wear such a costume, all three present smirked. Severine had found the articles of clothing in Raoul's closet and donated them to the cause. Raoul insisted that they did not belong to him but Severine pointed out the occasions that she had seen him wear each one.
After a lot of cajoling, Raoul admitted that he owned each item but had never put them all together. Raoul vowed to create a Phantom costume with Erik's discarded clothing from his closet. Raoul told all of them that he couldn't wait to see what Erik would wear when they reached the tropics since he had never seen Erik in much of anything that was not black and white. Erik became defensive in his own right declaring that he had an image to maintain of the mysterious Phantom of the Opera. Raoul smirked that it was time that Erik retired that persona, that in order to be the Opera Ghost, he would have to live there, and further that Ghosts were generally dead. He offered to truly make Erik the Opera Ghost by running him through with his sword as he almost did long ago. Erik reminisced almost fondly over his days as the Phantom. He told them that at least during the beginning of his time there he had peace and quiet and did not have to listen to haranguing wives and sisters, and meddlesome Comtes. Both wives wondered whether their husbands would return from their journey still in one piece. Erik arched an eyebrow in disdain for their comment insisting that the boy would travel with a great advantage, his injuries. Erik claimed that he could not in good conscience fight Raoul in any capacity for fear of taking unfair advantage over the "gimp". Raoul replied that he still had the edge over "the doddering old man".
The fall did not see any more attempts by Yousef to hurt Erik. The Muhlheims did not go to Paris to attend the opening of the opera season as they normally did. Erik was not ready to take the chance that Yousef would strike his family. He hired guards to keep an eye on his estate. All of them were retired soldiers who were personally recommended to him by Georges, the Comte de Brecy. Erik would not have been able to bring himself to leave his family behind without such protection. He left Nadir to stay with Christine and the children as well. It was decided that Nadir would continue to look for clues in Erik's absence. Nadir was very motivated to do so. He had not returned from Persia in a good state of mind to begin with. He felt frustrated that he could not save his nephew, and deeply wanted to take revenge on Yousef. Erik found that for once it was him, trying to keep his old friend on the right side of sanity.
It was the first time in their long years of friendship that Erik had to act to keep Nadir from growing too bitter and angry. He was worried that Nadir might snap without Erik being there to stabilize him but Christine promised to keep an eye on Nadir while they were gone. Erik had rarely left Christine for any long periods of time. He was so filled with adoration for her and his family, that he felt like a part of his own flesh was missing without her tender touch and his children's laughter. He cursed Yousef for forcing him to take these actions. He wished somehow that he could have the opportunity to speak with him, and convince him that he was a changed man from the tormented young man that he had once been.
For Erik the events in Persia seemed almost to have occurred a lifetime ago. He could recall the depths of his despair and loss of faith in the goodness of humanity, that raged within him in that dark chapter of his life. He had known other similar moments both before and after, but as Christine helped him to see, his anger and hopelessness was exploited by the Shah and Khanum to mold him into their assassin and executioner. He was a victim of their calculated steps to utilize those dark reaches of his persona as a weapon against their enemies. Erik wanted nothing in life but the chance to belong somewhere and be accepted as a full member of human society, and for a time they satiated his overwhelming need for these things, until his own conscience could not be silent any longer.
November came, and Raoul started to feel up to taking the long journey. They wanted to be back on time to celebrate Christmas with their families. Christmas in Normandy was celebrated together with both families including Erik's mother and his brother's family, and Raoul's parents and sisters as well. Both sisters were married and expecting their first children at the same time. Everyone in both families got along very well. At first Raoul's sisters were wary of Erik. They had seen and heard too many scary stories about the Phantom of the Opera. They were expecting Erik to be the gruesome monster that had been described in the newspapers. Even Raoul had a hand in painting a scary picture of Erik. By the time that they met Erik, the surgery had been performed and they were stunned to see that the Phantom was nothing like what had been described. Both girls were dumbstruck by the fact that the Phantom was handsome. Raoul especially enjoyed their reaction. He used to perform little pranks on his sisters. They were convinced that he had done so again.
Raoul and Erik left Boscherville, for Le Havre, where they boarded a small steamship that was transporting both prisoners and prison officials and visitors to Devil's Island.
The ship was not the most luxurious vessel that either party had ever used. Unlike the ships that plied the Atlantic between the United States and France this ship was of an early design for steamships. It dated to the early 1870s. It held a cargo of condemned men in the hold. There were only a few staterooms available for special visitors such as Erik and Raoul. When they boarded the ship they discovered that they had been assigned only one stateroom, not two. When Erik protested the agent gave a Gallic shrug and insisted that they received the nicest stateroom on the ship.
"You are not sailing to New York on one of those fancy liners, Monsieurs. No one actually wants to emigrate to French Guiana. The malaria and yellow fever is rampant there. Many inmates look old before their time." He observed.
Raoul thought about what he had heard about Philippe and knew that the man was right about that. He was not happy about spending so much time in a small cabin with Erik but at least there were two beds. He was a naval officer so he had spent time in similar staterooms to the one that they were assigned. But they learned that the term 1st class is different on each vessel and on this one just having a stateroom was first class.
"Compared to the poor bastards in the hold, you are both like our former Emperor, Napoleon III himself. You are living quite well in there." The man assured them.
The two men eyed the berths which were bunk beds and glanced at one another. Both wanted the bottom bunk but only one could win. They looked like they were going to do battle but Comte still walked with a limp so Erik reluctantly stepped aside so that Raoul could have the bottom bunk. Raoul was accustomed to spending months at sea, right after he and Severine were married, and he was called up by the navy to sail to the polar region on an explorative expedition. He was gone for nearly six months and Severine was not pleased that her brand new husband was gone for so long. When he had the opportunity to serve France in a diplomatic capacity instead, Severine insisted upon him taking advantage of the offer of a new position where she could be with him.
Erik had never embarked on a sea voyage that was longer than a few days. His greatest journeys, to Asia and the Near East, were all done by land mostly in caravans. He had been to almost every country in Europe and Asia in his travels but never to the Western Hemisphere. He found no charm in this journey, only hopefully the answer to some of his questions when he arrived in Devil's Island. He hated to think that they would have to undertake such a journey without reward for their troubles. Hopefully Philippe could and would tell them something.
Erik was ready to wring the neck of the agent who had booked them on such a ship but he was told by those aboard that it was the nicest ship that made the run to French Guiana. Cayenne and Devil's Island were not exactly enticing destinations, which is one reason that France had built the prison there. There was not a steady stream of settlers that desired to relocate to such a remote and unhealthy environment, still France wanted people to live there, so those 'fortunate' persons whose sentences were less than life but more than seven years were forced to spend the rest of their lives there when their sentences were served. Few if any could ever return to Metropolitan France.
There were many times in Erik's life where he had lived close to the edges of the law, and might have been likely to be in the hold of the ship with the prisoners and not in a stateroom. Both Erik and Raoul were slavishly greeted and admired by the other members of the crew, the passengers, and by the captain. It was rare that the captain could host such distinguished guests as a Comte and the former Phantom of the Opera.
Despite the warmth of their greeting, both men looked wearily on the prospect of sleeping together in such close quarters for a month or more. Although they had become close friends, it was a challenge to any friendship to be together in such close quarters. Raoul was sure that by the time that they return to France, Erik and he would probably Punjab, or stab, one another. He was a little alarmed that he would have the disadvantage given the fact that he had a limp in his step and a prosthetic arm to contend with. In any event it was going to be a long voyage.
As the ship ventured forward, Erik would see some of the men from below being permitted to walk around an area of the deck for exercise. The sight of chains and fetters did nothing to mollify his heightened nerves about this journey. He could well remember the feeling of such devices on his arms and legs. He could remember the despair that he felt being forced to live in a cage as an animal. He had never really told anyone but Christine about much of his time with the gypsies. It was too disturbing. The sight of these men brought back some of those memories, and he felt sorry for the men even if they were thieves and murderers. He knew that many of these men had committed no greater crimes than he might have done, at some point in the past, just to survive but they had been caught in the act where Erik had not been. He was reminded again that good fortune had finally decided to visit him.
Raoul had never shared a room with Erik, even when they went hunting or fishing; they always had their own rooms. It was during the night that Raoul could hear Erik cry out in his sleep as if he were warding off some sort of Phantom threat to him. He knew that Erik had endured many trials in his early life, but couldn't help but to pity him when the usually strong and indomitable Phantom begged some unknown tormentor to stop hurting him. The only time that he had ever seen or heard Erik to be so submissive was when Christine left him in the lair, sobbing and crying before they turned back to save him. He wondered whether this was a normal thing for Erik or if this was his way of dealing with the perils that had entered their life over the past six months. He hoped for Erik's sake that this journey would give them the answers that they needed to put all of their fears to rest. He had no doubt that Erik would revert to his more recent state of peacefulness once the threats to him had been neutralized.