Gustave was greatly enjoying his vacation days because they were work free. He and Christine took daily walks on the beach. Gustave played the violin for his daughter every afternoon, and he read her stories. Christine loved the light of the sun, and although she missed Erik's voice at night, she soon found a way to fall asleep without it after Gustave told her he had gone to help another young girl in need now that he was able to spent more time with her.
Unfortunately a couple days later Gustave and Christine had a surprise visit. Their neighbors, the Count de Chagny, his wife and their son. Their son had heard Gustave playing the violin while taking a stroll on the beach and he had run home to beg his parent's to ask the musician to give him private lessons.
"I do not give violin lessons." Gustave informed them.
The boy, Raoul, was eleven years old and an only child so he was used to getting his way. Raoul didn't have a shy hair in his body; he had smiled as soon as he saw Christine. The girl blushed but smiled back.
"But father, you gave lessons to the angel." Christine said contradicting her father.
Gustave looked at her in awe. Surely she didn't expect him to work during his vacation too.
"Of course we will pay for the lessons." The Count added.
"I really don't know." Gustave tried. "I am here on vacation."
"Can't you accommodate a few hours a day for my son?" The Countess asked.
Overpowered by four sets of eyes upon him Gustave had no other choice but to accept.
"When do you want me to start?" he said
"Tomorrow." The boy said excitedly.
The adults laughed at his eagerness to start the lessons. Gustave wondered if Raoul was happy about learning to play the violin or seeing Christine again. He was afraid that he had just met the boy that would be his daughter's first love.
The next day Raoul was early for his lesson. He talked to Christine; making her laugh, as Gustave tried to set up for the class. When he was ready Gustave suggested that Christine go take a walk on the beach and collect sea shells, but she declined smiling at her father. Gustave was now sure that he was been the witness of his daughter's childhood love.
He smiled to himself and decided to accept that there was now another man in Christine's life, one that about to become his pupil.
For the next few weeks Raoul came to his daily lessons. He wasn't musically talented at all. Raoul was not trying hard enough. All he wanted to do was talk to Christine and listen to Gustave's stories. Christine had told the boy that her father told wonderful stories about enchanted castles and foreign lands. From then on Raoul decided to stay a while longer to listen to the tales. Soon he was there almost all day. Sometimes Christine told a story of her own. She spoke of her angel of music, and of how he sang to her at night making her dreams come alive in her head. Raoul was intrigued by the sincerity in her voice.
"Is this true Christine?" He asked her one day.
Gustave let her daughter answer the boy.
"It is Raoul." She said. "Now that he is gone, he still sings to me but he does it after I am asleep."
Gustave frowned at this, and asked her to explain this to him.
"Yes father. When close my eyes and fall asleep, the angel sings to me. He comes in my dreams."
"Have you ever seen him?" Raoul interrupted.
"No. Humans cannot see angels." The girl said convincingly.
"Then how can you be certain that he comes in your dreams?" he insisted.
Gustave was starting to get annoyed by the boy's need to shatter his daughter's fantasy.
"In my dreams I hear his voice. But I cannot see his face. Why father, why can't I see his face?" his daughter asked Gustave.
Not knowing how to answer this Gustave tried to change the conversation, but from that moment on his daughter would secretly hope and dream for her angel to appear before her so that she could look into the beautiful being that owned her soul.
The vacation was over and Gustave and Christine returned to the Opera house. They make a promise to return every June to continue the lessons with Raoul. Christine was sad her days in sunlight were over, but she was also unbelievably happy to return to what had come to be her home.
The day of their arrival Christine was pleasantly surprised to find her angel's voice coming from the ceiling of her room. He was back, her angel had returned to her. Christine's father watched her look at the ceiling in amazement.
"Can you hear him father? Can you hear my angel?" she asked mesmerized by the voice.
Gustave, who was sitting in his usual chair awaiting his daughter's slumber so that he can talk to Erik, smiled cheerfully.
"Yes Christine, I hear him."
