Chapter 37

For the first time in years, Erik was able to view the sights and sounds of his native land, and hear his native language. He did not realize how much he missed the beautiful sound of the French language. For him, even the most basic tone of his native tongue was an elegant work of art, compared to the more guttural sound of English. For the five years that Erik had lived in seclusion, only Persian was spoken between him and Nadir and Darius. His alienation from all things French included the language. Only when Simone and Gustave came to live with them, did most conversation switch to either French or English but still it was different. France and her language were still far away. When he believed Christine to be dead he still wanted to distance himself from France. He stepped outside into a French speaking world, and for a moment he gave himself leave to enjoy it. There was no other place on earth quite like France, and a part of him yearned to stay for a while. He thought about leaving, and abandoning his escort, but thought better of it and returned inside. He would have to come up with a different plan for Philippe. Henri had already modified his own plans by intervening on his behalf. Erik walked into the restaurant area of the Inn and immediately found the table where the M Thevenet was waiting for him. The Justice Minister was seated alone and motioned to Erik to sit down. He had ordered some cheese and a fine bottle of claret and invited him to sample them.

"I took the liberty of ordering us a small snack. It isn't often that I get the chance to sit down and speak with the Opera Ghost himself." He told Erik. "It is fine claret from Bordeaux, an 1861 vintage 'Lafite'. I have heard that you are a man with discerning tastes. Of course then again, I have heard much about you over the years. The public curiosity over you has never waned."

Erik replied with a smile "'61 was a fine year. I am surprised that this establishment has something so old and rare. I am surprised that you are still sitting here considering what you must know about me."

"From what I have heard you are a man of contrasts, a former assassin but an artist as well. I wonder Monsieur le Comte which characterization comes closest to who you really are. You are as much of a mystery now as you were years ago." Thevenet asked.

"Both characterizations are completely true, Monsieur Thevenet. I was born to be an artist, to both create and appreciate beauty but to survive with a face that looks like this, I have had to wear many masks; no irony intended. I prefer to display my artistic side, but at times the assassin has been my only choice. But surely Monsieur you did not wish to sit down with me to discuss either my history or my personality traits. I am sure that a man with as distinguished of a background as yours does not need to hear the story of my miserable life. We both need to get to Paris to take care of important matters."

Thevenet turned to him and smiled "On the contrary Monsieur de Rennes, I am truly interested in your life story but you are right we do need to get back to Paris, but we have a little while before the next train is to leave so I thought that you might enjoy a taste of home."

"It is most thoughtful of you Monsieur le Ministre, as was the fact that you personally decided to attend to me." Erik told him.

"I admit that I wanted to do so out of curiosity, but I could not really trust anyone else with it. The Capitaine of the gendarmes that arrested you is well known to be particularly brutal. He might not have submitted so easily to anyone else but me."

Erik changed the subject and asked. "If I were to choose to do so, could I go to Paris on my own, or am I still under some sort of arrest?"

M. Thevenet replied cheerfully "You are a free man Monsieur le Comte, as far as the French government is concerned; you are no longer a suspect in the matter of the murder of either the Vicomte or the late inspector de la Croix. But you still have enemies here Monsieur and I would prefer that you remain with us until we reach Paris. We were hoping that you might be able to share evidence with us that may shed some light on the Boulangist influences that remain in government. If you do, you will be doing your country a great favor. Several prominent persons, including both the President and Prime Minister, have personally intervened on your behalf to clear up the misunderstanding that almost lead to your wrongful detention."

"I have little such evidence at the moment, but I may become privy to more once I reach Paris. I do not wish to elaborate at the present time on what my sources might be there. But I will be more than happy to help France if I can."

Thevenet smiled "I was hoping that you felt that way. If so, we would be in your debt. You would more than erase any past wrongdoing that you might have done." He picked up and studied the wine in his glass. "This has aged quite gracefully, you can still taste the delicate bouquet don't you agree Monsieur le Comte."

Erik replied "Please call me Erik. I do not feel comfortable being addressed as a Comte."

"Then I will meet you in the middle. You may call me Francois." He replied.

Erik had noted that Thevenet had not mentioned Christine when he was discussing the murders; clearly he knew that she was still alive but how? "Did you see her?" he asked. "If so, how?"

"You mean the Vicomtesse? It was mostly her that swayed the panel. Your brother will soon be the deputy Justice Minister when I step down in March. He had mentioned your plight and its relationship to last year's coup attempt and told us that he had uncontroverted proof of your innocence. He had feared that you would return to France to find her, and wanted to be assured that you could do so in safety. She was the proof." He told her.

"Did he mention how he knew who I was? And how she came to be involved in this? I did not want to see her safety compromised even if it would have resulted in my own arrest and execution." He told him.

"The panel consisted of persons of impeccable honesty, who were all instrumental in foiling the coup attempt last year. Those that would threaten you both still constitute a threat to the 3rd Republic. Our goals are therefore identical." Francois told him.

Erik replied smoothly "Not quite, my primary concern is to secure the safety of my son and his mother. My own safety is a distant third. Only then when they are safe, do other concerns come into play. Where is she now? Did she go back into hiding in the same place or was she moved?"

"It was my understanding that her past hiding place was becoming untenable. Your old home has been under observation by those who might harm her. Your brother told me that he was going to move her somewhere safe. Somewhere that no one would consider given the fact that even he did not know of your ties to him until they were brought to his attention. He is at your family home in Bretagne at the moment perhaps she is with him. " Francois told him. He lowered his tone to be sure that only Erik could hear.

"So she is not in Paris anymore?" he asked. I hoped that she was not in Bretagne, at least not if she was there and knew who Christine was and what she meant to him.

"To be honest Erik, he did not say where he was moving her. Only, that he would protect her for you." Francois replied. "He bade me to protect you. I called over to the gendarmerie to have them watch for your arrival in Paris. It was fortunate that I was informed that you were to arrive here in Cherbourg and that a group of gendarmes had boarded a train to here only an hour before. I boarded the next train to Cherbourg and assembled a group of gendarmes here to stop them. I did not know what mischief that they had planned, perhaps a fatal 'accident' or something else. I wanted to make sure personally that you were made to be safe."

Erik replied "That was most kind of you Francois, but I had the situation under control."

"It did not look like it Monsieur, you were locked in that horrible cage, covered in mud and lord knows what else." Francois told him.

"Perhaps I appeared helpless, but I did not want to distract anyone from their goal of taking care of me. I have several associates who were to gather what I needed and then bring my loved ones home to safety; I wanted de Chagny to believe that he was in control of our game." Erik averred. "Now he will know that he is not."

Francois looked at him and told him "You might never have made it to Paris, Erik. The newspapers have spent months blackening your reputation. Many gendarmes believe you to be behind the torture and murder of one of their comrades. De la Croix died in a horrible way. He was heavily bruised and was found with rope marks around his neck. He looked exactly as Joseph Buquet did. Whoever did it has wanted to make you look as brutal as possible. Any one of those men could have done something to you and made it look to be an accident." Francois told him. "Most of the gendarmerie hates you. They take care of their own."

"The gendarmerie and I have rarely seen eye to eye in the past. You forget the mob that attacked my lair. I barely escaped with my life that night." Erik reminded him.

Francois looked at him grimly "You would not have escaped now. The men that I have brought with me have been apprised of your innocence, and will protect you now, but it will take a while for the news of your innocence to come out and convince the public that you are not a monster. It is the reason that Henri and I decided that you had no choice but to use your title. It will offer you the protection that your other identities do not. I beg you to accept our protection."

Erik nodded his assent. "Once I am reunited with my friends I can wear my prosthetic face once again and no one will recognize me. I will give you whatever evidence that I can find. If there is none, I will take matters into my own hands, I know who is responsible for this and I will deal with him in my own way. This is not a threat but a fact. I cannot have my loved ones in danger and risk that his threat will continue without dealing with it once and for all."

Francois replied "I understand completely Erik. I would feel the same about my loved ones. A man has to see to the safety of his family before all else."

They finished their wine talking about more mundane matters and then. Once finished, they walked over to the train station and boarded the next train to Paris.

In Paris, the group was still split into two groups. The 'McGraw family' and their two 'servants' had checked into the Hotel Scribe right next to the opera house. Nadir, Squelch and Darius held back for a short time and then took the suite next to theirs. The hotel was perfectly situated near both the bank and the Opera house, where Christine was thought to still be. To their surprise, Erik had a gendarme send a telegram to Nadir advising him of his change of plans and that he expected to be arriving in Paris as well, as a free man. Nadir was surprised but knew that Erik would explain why later. George and Gustave quietly walked over to their suite after Nadir sent Squelch to keep an eye on Simone. George had unplugged the phone from that room and brought it to the other suite so that Simone would not have access to a phone. She complained about being a prisoner despite her decision to help; but now she was only a phone call away from Philippe. Nadir was not willing to take that chance. Nadir took the phone and hid it and then showed George the telegram.

"How did this happen? Squelch told me that Erik had been surrounded by gendarmes the minute the ship docked in Cherbourg. How did he convince them of his innocence so soon?" George asked in wonderment.

Nadir chuckled "Erik never ceases to amaze me with his ability to adapt himself to his new circumstances and come out better in the end. Perhaps he used his famous voice to hypnotize the gendarmes into doing his bidding."

Gustave had been eavesdropping and cut in "I wish that I could sound like my father. I loved watching the ladies on the ship drop everything to come over to him once they heard him speak. Was he such a Don Juan in the old days?"

Nadir smiled inwardly at Gustave's unintended reference to Erik's opera "Hardly Gustave, you made him that way. Your constant observations to him that various women have their eye on him, I am afraid brought out a new side to him. I am not even sure that he realizes it. He still believes that your mother will run the other way once she sees him."

"She will do no such thing." Gustave predicted "Perhaps if he were as creepy as he was when I first came to the house, she might have been a little scared of him; but he has been so nice lately and everyone likes him. Nellie Johnson told me that her mom was about to slip and fall due to some ice on Main Stree. Because Father reacted so quickly, he was able to catch her before she hit the ground. After that she overheard her mother telling her friend that she was surprised that such a handsome and sensual man had made it into his forties without a bride. The other boys were teasing me that I might grow up to be 'a handsome and sensual man as well' until I hit Joshua Pickett in the nose. "

"I know. Olivia spoke to your father about that incident right before he was kidnapped, and he and I both forgot the whole thing. You got a lucky break because your father was quite angry with you for losing your temper in such a way." Nadir warned. "He does not want you to get into trouble for your quick temper as he has."

"I know." Gustave replied feeling chastened. "He is always telling me to practice controlling it. He told me that whenever he feels out of control, he thinks about how scared that my Maman looked after his reaction to his unmasking for the first time, to cool his own temper. He said that he never wanted to see that look on her face again."

"Don't let your father fool you, he still has a nasty temper but he is provoked less often. I don't think that he will ever be even tempered but he would never hurt anyone that he cares about." Nadir told him. "But your father is right, it would be good for you to start young." He added.

In the meantime in Brittany, Henri received a telegram from Thevenet "The package arrived safely and was intercepted on time. It is now being delivered to Paris as we speak. Please advise what you propose to do to accept delivery on it. Will contact you again from Paris."

FT

Henri sought out Christine and found her in the greenhouse sitting there alone. She looked to be deep in thought about something. She looked stunning in the light. He could see why his brother had been enchanted by her. When she heard his footsteps she looked up at him questioningly.

He told her the news "Erik is now under the protection of Minister Thevenet and is enroute to Paris. He has asked me what to do. It is my opinion that Erik should come here to retrieve you."

Christine looked at him with concern "I don't know if he would be willing to do that. I am sure that he would have some misgivings about dredging up old memories from his past. Besides, your mother still retains her hostility towards him, and even Eulalie is ambivalent. Perhaps you should forget about affecting a reunion and take me back to Paris. You have been quite kind to us and I am grateful."

Henri shook his head no "I am sorry Christine but I disagree, perhaps I am being selfish but I vowed long ago that I would atone for the wrong done to Erik in the past. If I bring you to Paris, he will never come here. I am sorry but I cannot accept that outcome. I insist on my brother coming here to this Chateau to come to terms with all of his past, and to assume his rightful place as a member of the de Rennes family. Once he has done so he is free to return to America, or stay here or Paris, wherever he wishes you to go, but I have done much for him, and I expect this small favor in return."

She looked at Henri "Erik did not tell me much about his time here, but I know that it was very traumatic for him to recall it. You may be asking too much of him to expect him to come here willingly and believe that it will change anything. Do you really want to cause him that sort of pain, or yourself? There is a reason that he never returned here, and you may create worse harm than you would if you let him go."

Henri looked at her "But you agree that he would be unlikely to return here if I brought you back to him in Paris?"

Christine shook her head yes "He is a tortured soul, Henri. The Erik that I know would not risk rejection again. But if you truly want to help him, why don't you just let him go? Perhaps in time I could make him see that a reconciliation would be warranted."

He looked at her "Perhaps, but I must still insist despite what you have said. I did not tell you before but my father committed suicide ten years ago. Because of that he could not be buried on consecrated ground. A few days before he did it he told me about how haunted that he was that he had treated Erik in such a terrible manner. He made me promise that I would do all that I could to bring Erik back into the family. He told me that his immortal soul would not be able to rest until the past was made right. Before then, Erik was a distant memory for me. I had wondered what had become of him but he was an abstraction. When I found my father lying there, dead at his own hand, I knew that I had to honor my promise to him no matter what. Although my family is mainly of French blood and consider ourselves more French than Breton, we are also of Breton descent. We were raised in the ancient customs and beliefs of the Breton people. The Breton's believe that an immortal soul cannot rest until its debts are repaid. Perhaps you might find me odd for this but it is how I feel. I must give my father's soul some peace."

Christine looked at him "I do not find that feeling to be odd at all. I was particularly close to my father. He was once my only companion. I do not really remember my mother at all. She was taken from me when I was a young girl of four. After her death my father and I traveled around Sweden where he played the violin in various orchestras and concert halls. When I was seven he was diagnosed with consumption; a doctor recommended that he go to Italy where he would be more comfortable. We only had enough money to go as far as France where we a spent a summer here in Bretagne in Perros-Guirec. We stayed with one of father's old friends. It was there that I first met my husband Raoul. We would play together by the sea and exchange stories while Papa played the violin. By the end of the summer my father was too weak to continue to Italy, and before long he died. The last time that he spoke to me he promised me that he would send me an angel of music. I can still close my eyes and see him, he was so weak and he was failing. His voice was barely above a whisper by then but he was so adamant that I listen and believe in what he was telling me."

Henri laughed "I suppose that you are going to tell me that he did."

She looked at him with a serious gaze and met his aqua eyes that were so like Erik's "Yes but not in the way that you would know. You see, after he died I was brought to the opera house, where I prayed for my angel to come to me. After many prayers and tears he did. He became my angel and so much more. He was so kind and loving towards me, that I wished that he could become a man. You see everyone else at the opera house called him the Phantom of the Opera, but for me he was not a phantom, he was my angel of music. He did for me all that my father told me that he would. So you see you made a promise to your father to bring peace to his immortal soul, my father did the same for me by sending me Erik. That is why I will not let any harm come to him, not even from you. In my time of need when I was alone in the world and in mourning for my father Erik came to me and took care of me. Now want to look out for him, as he does for me. If I had understood our bond years ago when I was still a teenager, none of the bad things that happened at the opera house would have taken place. I will not see something similar happen this time."

Henri replied gently "That is a lovely story Christine, and it does you credit that you want to protect Erik. He is a lucky man to have such a protective angel, but still I insist. You can watch over him here when he comes for you. That way, in the end, both of our father's wishes can be achieved. My father's and my wishes are not in conflict with your own. You must trust me to do right by him."

"But what about your mother?" Christine asked "What about Eulalie?" They may not share your optimism."

Henri shrugged "Eulalie is not really a problem, if Erik is truly a good man, she will forgive him easily. I have never seen her to hold a grudge forever, and she certainly will be disinclined to do so against my own express wishes. She may fight it for a little bit, but if Erik treats us amiably I am confident that she will grow to like him. As far as my mother goes, I am afraid that she is a lost cause, but I have been protecting her from herself for years. Like many women she is prone to hysteria, and she was raised in a more superstitious time, among people who believed in all kinds of faeries and spirits. She believes that Erik was the result of some sort of sin that she or my father must have committed when she was younger. Eventually she will have no choice but to come around." He told her solemnly."In ten years it will be the 20th century, we have no basis to carry the old superstitions into a new age."

"And yet you believe that your father's spirit is still restless." Christine pointed out.

"And you believed in angels." Henri replied in amusement.

Christine smiled and replied "Well I think that both of us are simply honoring our dead father's wishes."

"I am sure that you are right." Henri agreed. He held out his hand and offered it to Christine "Truce?"

Christine gripped it and smiled back "For now, but remember I am the descendant of Vikings. If Erik comes away from here harmed in any way, either physically or mentally, I will hold you responsible."