CHAPTER 6

He wanted only to return to his house. Nothing more than to live the rest of his life in total solitude…

"Lead me, save me from my solitude -- "

He would go back, and the world would never hear from him again. He would die in isolation; for a creature such as himself could not be a part of the living world. Such a beast could have no place among people; he must be always alone. Never again would he be tempted by the seductive but treacherous desire to have more. Never again.

Meg opened her eyes the next morning, sat up with a yawn and stretched. Her eyes adjusted and she looked around the room.

Suddenly she jumped up and ran to the bed that had been set up for Christine. It was neatly made, with a note lying on it. Meg read it quickly, then ran to her mother's bedroom at the end of the small hallway, knocking and entering.

"Meg!" exclaimed her mother, who was already awake and just starting to dress. "Mon Deiu! What on earth is it?"

"Look!" She gave the note to her mother. It read:

My dearest Meg,

I cannot begin to tell you how sorry I am to have left you so abruptly, but I had to go. I will not tell you where, but I give you my word that I will contact you soon. Forgive me.

Christine

"Mother, what are we to do?"

"Have you any idea where she has gone?" asked Madame Giry, her face showing her intense worry.

"No!" Meg looked down, thinking. "Unless -- no, she could not have…Mother! I must leave this instant!"

"Where?"

"To Rouen. I must see the Vicomte de Chagne."

She hardly knew what she was doing. Leaving had been difficult, for she did not wish to be cruel to her friends, but she knew that she had to go. She must find him, though she did not know how. The only information she had was the city he had been in; she knew nothing of his residence. She began to think herself foolish, but she had no choice. She must find him.
The maid had looked skeptically at Meg when she asked to see the Vicomte, but had allowed her to wait in the foyer while she told her master of his caller. A moment later she reappeared, apologized for the wait and showed Meg into the library.

It had been some time since she had seen him, but he greeted her warmly and asked her to be seated. He also offered her refreshment, but she declined, being anxious to get to the reason of her visit.

"Monsieur," she began.

"Please, I must insist you call me Raoul." He smiled.

"Raoul," Meg was uncomfortable using his first name, but she did not want to be impolite; "I have come --" She stopped. Now she was here, she hardly knew what to say. How could she tell him? How could she explain what she did not understand herself?

"Yes, Meg? May I call you Meg?"

"Oh, yes."

He sat down in a chair near her. "You were saying? You have come --?"

"It's about Christine. She was staying with my mother --"

" 'Was?' " The congenial expression faded from his face, replaced by alarm. "What do you mean, 'was'?"

"Oh Monsieur, she is gone! I am not sure where. She left this note --" she handed it to him. "She was gone this morning."

His eyes widened as he read, and when he looked back up at Meg his face showed distress.

"Have you any idea of where she has gone, or why she left? Did something happen?"

Meg had no choice but to tell him of Christine going back to the underground of the Opera, and of her own meeting with the Phantom. She felt that she was betraying Christine, but that she had no other option. "Please forgive me. I don't know what came over me to tell him anything. Monsieur please do not hate me."

Raoul shook his head slowly. "No, I know that that -- man, has ways of bewitching people; of making them do or say what they never would have otherwise. I do not blame you. And it is obvious that he has put a -- spell on Christine." He seemed to suddenly come out of a daze. He stood up and said, "I thank you, Mademoiselle, from the bottom of my heart. I shall leave forLe Harveimmediately."

"I am going there too." Meg also stood. "I must."

"It might be best for you to stay here --" Meg cut him off:

"No, I must go. I shall." She was firm. "I have means of getting there."

"If you are certain, then you must travel with me. It is not safe for you to go such a distance unaccompanied."

"Monsieur, I would not impose --"

"No, I am resolute. Now if you will excuse me, I will be back as soon as I can." And he left the room to arrange the journey to Le Harve; praying that he would find her there.