Backstage

(Scene 2)

Giry is hurrying across. Raoul appears and calls after her.

Harry called, "Madame Giry. Madame Giry…"

Luna answered hurriedly, "Monsieur, don't ask me- I know no more than anyone else."

She starts to move off but Raoul stops her.

Harry said, "That's not true. You've seen something haven't you?"

Luna answered uneasily, "I don't know what I've seen…Please don't ask me, monsieur."

Harry pleaded desperately, "Madame, for all our sakes…"

Luna, who glanced nervously about her and suddenly decided to trust him. She cut in, "Very well. It was years ago. There was a traveling fair in the city. Tumblers, conjurors, human oddities…"

Harry urged, "Go on…"

Luna spoke trance-like as she retraced the past. "And there was…I shall never forget him: a man…locked in a cage…"

Harry looked bewildered. "In a cage…?"

Luna continued, "A prodigy, monsieur! Scholar, architect, musician."

Harry was piecing together the pieces of the puzzle. "A composer…"

Luna went on. "And an inventor too, monsieur. They boasted that he had had once built for the Shah of Persia, a maze of mirrors…"

Harry who was mystified and impatient cut in. "Who was this man…?"

Luna answered with a shudder. "A freak of nature…more monster than man…"

Harry asked in a murmur. "Deformed…?"

Luna answered, "From birth, it seemed…"

Harry breathed, "My God…"

Luna went on, "And then…he went missing. He escaped."

Harry said, "Go on."

Luna continued at Harry's prompt. "They never found him. It was said he died…"

Harry answered darkly, "But he didn't die, did he?"

Luna went on dazed, "The world forgot him, but I never can…For in this darkness I have seen him again…"

Harry said, "And so our Phantom's this man…"

Luna started from her daze and turned to go. "I have said too much, monsieur." She moved off into the surrounding darkness. "And there have been too many accidents…"

Harry called after her in an ironical manner, "Accidents!"

Luna answered, "Too many…"

And, before Raoul can question her further, Giry has disappeared.

Harry called out as he ran after her, "Madame Giry…!"