(A/N: As the title indicates, this is an interlude to set the stage for the next chapter, where the plot is really going to start thickening. Disclaimer: See previous chapters, there are no new characters coming in. Yet.)
6. Interlude
Before finding out what happens next to Erik and Elizabeth, I would appreciate it if my Readers would allow me to focus on some other people's lives for a while. There are some things going on that niether Elizabeth nor Erik (omnicient as he is) know about. For instance, this conversation that Meyerlings had with the managers...
Right after the Opera that Erik so violently interrupted, Herr and Frau Meyerling went to the managers to complain.
"Who was the madman who tried to forcibly eject us from our box after the intermission?" Frau Meyerling demanded. Firmin paled slightly and Andre swore under his breath.
"What did he look like?" Firmin asked, hoping that by some miracle there had been two madmen in the Opera House that night.
"He was tall, and dressed all in black dinner clothes. He had white gloves. He wore a floor-length black cloak, with the hood pulled almost completely over his face. He had a very memorable voice, but I can't quite pinpoint what was so remarkable about it."
"And he was wearing a white mask." Said the five-year-old Fraulien Rosa Meyerling. Firmin swallowed several nasty words.
"That," he said grimly "was the Phantom of the Opera. What box were you in?"
"Box Five. We were delayed, so we only arrived during the intermission. Just as act two was beginning they arrived and..."
"Why on Earth didn't you sit in the box you paid for?" Andre demanded angrily. "Box Five is reserved for the Ghost. No wonder he was angry..."
"But I paid for Box Five!" Herr Meyerling protested. The managers gasped and looked at each other.
"Why...? How...? Who..." spluttered Andre.
"Yes, who? Who sold you Box Five?" Asked Firmin.
"The young lady in the box office."
Firmin groaned. "That would have been one of the Ballet girls. Mme Giry had then helping out in their spare time because we're understaffed right now. I'm sorry Herr, Frau, Frauliens, we'll refund you the money, or give you a different box for the duration of your stay, but we cannot let you have Box Five, for your own safety. It's a miracle you are still alive."
"Give them which other box? We're sold out." Andre pointed out dryly. Firmin remained calm.
"We can give them our box. It's the second best in the house anyway. Would that suit you?"
"Perfectly," said Frau Meyerling. They turned to leave, but then Frau remembered something and turned back.
"Would you thank this Phantom's lady for saving our lives? It was a brave thing to do."
"What lady?" Andre asked.
"He had a lady with him. She was small, quite pretty, and very becomingly dressed in a red dress and a black cloak. She had reddish-brown hair."
Firmin feigned calmness. "I don't know her, but if I see her I shall pass on your words." He said. When the family were gone he and Andre stared at each other. That was not Christine Daae! Why was the Phantom going to Operas with another woman when he proffessed to love Christine...?
That same evening Raoul asked Christine to come to dinner with him. She accepted, and very soon was sitting across the table from him enjoying a fine dinner. Phillipe was a few minutes late, but he soon hurried in, appologising charmingly to his brother and Christine.
"I hear your Phantom has given up on you and has another companion." Phillipe said lightly.
"What?" demanded Raoul.
"It is true," confirmed Christine. "The Ghost had a lady sitting with him in Box Five. Raoul, remember the woman I told you of on Christmas Day? I think it must be her. Who else could it be?"
"What woman on Christmas Day?" asked Phillipe. Christine told him what she had seen. Phillipe looked grave. Like Raoul, he knew better than sweet, naive Christine what the Phantom, or any cruel man, was capable of doing to a girl who had no escape. And from what Raoul had repeated to him of Christine's story of her adventures with Erik, he doubted this woman could escape. He wondered whether he should suggest that Raoul and Christine leave the country and get married while the Phantom was distacted, but he decided to keep quiet. The conversation turned to other matters, but Phillipe decided to keep his eyes and ears open with regards to this strange girl.
That evening a thunderstorm blew up suddenly, and Christine was invited to stay the night. Without telling anyone, Phillipe spent the night in a room ajoining hers. He didn't really think the Ghost would let her go this easily, so he might be angry that she was spending the night in the de Chagny house. Nothing happened, though.
Nothing's happened yet, Phillipe corrected himself.
Obviously Carlotta was sick that day, or Christine wouldn't have gotten the part of Margarita. The next day she was worse. That same day, three of the ballet girls went home sick before noon, and after noon four of the chorus also left. That evening the papers told the story: A highly contageous strain of influenza was spreading through Paris because people involved with the Opera House had contracted it and had unknowingly passed it to the audiance. The virus was of middle severity, but it was still looking like an epidemic. The managers were horrified. The Masquerade ball was days away, and it would have to be cancelled, or at least postponed!
