Ch 18 – An Unexpected Visitor
Erik reached for the door, a faint hope in his heart that his most recent wish had been granted, but when the door swung open, it was golden blonde curls and blue eyes that greeted him, instead of mahogany and chocolate as he had hoped for. Slightly disappointed, but intrigued nonetheless, he remembered his manners and asked politely, "Can I help you, mademoiselle?
The lovely woman before him was elegantly dressed, and had the confidence of nobility about her, but she met his inquiry with a pleasant smile, "Yes, thank you monsieur, I am looking for a Monsieur Erik de Noir. Can you tell me if he is in?" Her voice was soft and pleasant, her diction perfect. Erik's eyebrow rose slightly, wondering what on God's green earth this lovely creature wanted with him. But once again, his perfect manners took control, answering her in his own rich, elegant speech, "I am Monsieur de Noir. In what way can I be of service to you?" he inquired with a short bow.
Her eyes widened. She had been told that the man she was to meet was deformed and horrible, that he wore a mask to avoid the stares of others. Why, the man before her was handsome! Upon closer inspection, she could indeed make out several scars on the right side of his face, but still he was in no way the hideous figure that had been described to her. And the resemblance was striking. Helena wondered that no one had ever noticed it before.
She shook her head to bring her mind back to her errand. With a degree of formality, she replied, "Monsieur de Noir, my business is of a private nature. Would you mind terribly if we were to step inside before we discuss it?" Erik's eyebrow rose even higher, if possible, as if it would leap from his face at her request, but with another short bow, he assented, "As you wish, mademoiselle. Please, come in."
He stepped out of her way so she could enter, and in a gentlemanly fashion, helped her remove her heavy fur wrap, draping it over a chair.
The golden woman made her way up the stairs into his sitting room, taking in her surroundings with a mixture of awe and pleasure. This man's taste was flawless. The furnishings were rich and elegant, and the entire room was as neat as a pin - not the typical residence of a bachelor in her limited experience. He gestured for her to take a seat on the sofa, choosing to seat himself in the leather chair opposite her. He stretched his long legs easily before him, and with his dark good looks and lean grace, he reminded her of an exotic jungle cat. She shivered involuntarily. She had been prepared to make her offer to a monster. The fact that the monster happened to be a very intriguing and sensually appealing man had thrown her momentarily. Her head remained high, but her hands twisted somewhat nervously in her lap.
Erik watched her hands. He remembered that Christine used to do that same thing whenever she was nervous. His intense gray-blue eyes drifted back to her elegant, sculpted face. He wondered again what business she had with him that was making her so nervous, but he waited patiently for her to explain.
She took a deep breath and began. "Monsieur, de Noir..."
"Erik," he interrupted.
"Erik," she began again, "You were familiar with the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny, were you not?"
His eyes narrowed and he frowned slightly, but he answered her evenly, "Yes, I knew him once, although we were not on amicable terms when I last saw him." That was an understatement, he thought with an inward snort. The last time he had seen that miserable fop it had been at the end of a noose. "Why do you ask?" He was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable already at the direction the conversation appeared to be taking.
"As you may or may not know, the Vicomte de Chagny was killed during the siege of Paris, this past spring." She watched him, gauging his reaction before continuing. Though his face remained expressionless, she thought she saw a faint trace of shock register in his eyes.
Erik repeated her words slowly, "The Vicomte is dead?" He hadn't known. He hadn't picked up a newspaper since the night he had discovered their engagement announcement.
The woman continued, "I am Mademoiselle Helena de Chagny. Raoul's father and my mother were brother and sister; thus, I was his cousin. As you are most likely aware, Raoul's elder brother Philippe was the Comte de Chagny for many years. After Raoul's death, the Comte was devastated. His health had been failing for some time, due to a long battle with influenza this past winter. The sorrow, combined with his weakness was too much for his already frail body, and just recently, he too passed away, leaving no further heir to the de Chagny title."
Erik was intrigued, but still did not understand what a de Chagny, and a beautiful one at that was doing in his sitting room. "Mademoiselle, forgive me, but I still fail to understand how this concerns me."
Helena drew in another deep breath. This would not be easy. She kept her voice steady as she continued to explain. "I am getting to that. Just before Philippe's death, he asked to speak with me in private. He explained to me that there was, in fact, another who held a claim to the de Chagny name. Philippe was a good man, and an honest one, and I could see how it pained him to share with me a secret that he had held for nearly forty years." For a moment, a faint sadness flickered over her face and she looked at her hands folded carefully in her lap.
With a deep sigh, she looked up to face him, her eyes full of regret. "Philippe confided to me that his father, my grandfather had been in love with another woman, a commoner, before he met his wife. His family was naturally appalled, but an even greater scandal was brought about when he announced that the girl was pregnant. In his youth and love, he wished to marry her, but his family would not allow it. He stubbornly refused to marry any of the more suitable women they paraded before him, claiming that if he could not marry the woman he loved, he would not marry at all. The girl gave birth, but the labor was difficult and she did not survive. In my grandfather's grief, he was in no state to tend to a child that night. His parents, assuring him that the child would be taken care of, spirited him away and quickly arranged a marriage to a woman of suitable social standing. When he returned after a year abroad with a new wife and a child – a future heir to the de Chagny title, no one thought anything of it. The illusion was complete. But unbeknownst to him, or anyone else except his parents, a second child had been born that night as well." Here she paused for a moment, unsure how to form the words she dreaded to utter. Her hands were shaking.
Erik had a feeling of vague impending dread. He still had no idea how this whole twisted story of scandal and intrigue related to him, and he wasn't sure now if he wanted to know. He stood abruptly and walked to the window, uncertain why he was so troubled by her tale.
Helena's spoke the next words gently, as if to soften the emotional blow that she knew would accompany them. "I am afraid my family has committed a grievous wrong against you, monsieur." Erik's head snapped up. "The second baby born that night was another healthy boy, but this boy had a deformity, the right side of his face was disfigured..." Her words trailed off, knowing the rest would be easy to surmise. She wrung her hands once again in her lap, wishing suddenly that someone else could have been appointed this horrible task.
Erik kept his back carefully turned from her so she could not see his reaction to her words. His mind was awhirl in a raging tide of thoughts and emotions. His hands gripped the frame of the window so tightly he felt it would crumble beneath his fingers. The pieces all fit with what he knew, but still, he had to hear the rest. In a tightly controlled voice he spoke with his back still turned to her, "I see. Please continue."
Helena's voice shook openly now as she finished the story of her family's shameful secret. "My grandfather's parents were convinced the deformity was a mark of the devil, a punishment for their son's dalliances outside the bonds of marriage. They quickly decided to have the baby taken by a servant to an orphanage nearby. There, they kept careful tabs on his whereabouts for several years, in order to protect the family name from scandal. However, the boy ran away from the orphanage, and my grandfather's parents eventually died. The secret remained hidden. Then, one day the servant who had been appointed to take the child to the orphanage and watch over him confessed on his deathbed to my grandfather that there had been a second child. My grandfather searched desperately, hiring private investigators, but the boy could not be found." She paused for a moment to catch her breath.
"Before he died, my grandfather wrote a letter to his attorney giving him all the information that he knew about the existence of the child, instructing him to eventually pass the information on to his other son, Philippe, when he was of age. The attorney did as he was instructed, and Philippe set about completing the task that his father had begun. He once again hired private investigators, and eventually learned that the boy had been taken by gypsies, and that was where the trail ended for a time. However, after Raoul began describing the events of the Opera House, Philippe had a suspicion that the mysterious masked man of Raoul's descriptions and his lost twin might be one and the same. He set to work, attempting to find the truth, but the process was slow and the events of the Opera House disaster stalled progress for a time, as Philippe was unsure if he should proceed. However, after Raoul's death, and with the decline of his own health, Philippe doubled his efforts, desperate that his lost brother might regain his birthright. In the end, he was successful, and the documents that I have brought with me today led him to you, monsieur. He gave them to me just before his death, asking that I convey them to you, along with his humblest apologies for the reprehensible actions of our ancestors."
Helena stared desperately at the strong back of the man before her, willing him to understand, to forgive. In a lower voice, she added, "He regretted very deeply that he never had the chance to know you, monsieur. As I said, Philippe was a good man, and an honorable one. He would have welcomed you into the family with open arms, even if others before him had not." She waited for him to turn around, to respond somehow, but his stony silence dominated the room for many long moments.
Finally, when she had begun to wonder whether she should leave and come back later, he turned slightly, and asked her quietly, "So you are telling me that I am the twin brother of Philippe de Chagny, and now heir to the title of Comte and the entire de Chagny fortune?" He unconsciously held his breath as he awaited her answer.
"Yes, it is true. My mother died long ago, and you are eldest blood relation." She paused. "You would also have been half brother to Raoul de Chagny, though I understand you were not fond of one another." This fact seemed a pity to her. She would have liked to have thought that the three brothers would have been close, if Fate had been kind.
Turning back to the window, Erik asked the question that burned above all the others raging in his mind, "What of the Vicomte's wife? Would she not be entitled to something of his estate?" He kept his voice even, carefully controlled so as not to inform her of his undeniable interest in the Vicomtesse.
Helena cocked her head to one side quizzically, her voice belying her confusion. "Wife, monsieur? Raoul never married. He had no wife when he died."
Erik's heart nearly leapt from his chest, and his breath caught in his throat. No matter his efforts, his voice wavered slightly as he pushed for more information. "No, that is not possible. I saw the wedding announcement myself when I was abroad in a Paris newspaper." He stood rigid, awaiting her explanation.
Helena nodded in sudden understanding, "Yes, monsieur, a wedding was planned, but on the day of the ceremony, the engagement was broken. No one knew why at the time. There were rumors, but I do not know which of them held the truth." She didn't understand his fascination with Raoul's marital status, but she attributed his interest to the overwhelming amount of information he was being asked to take in and absorb in a short period of time. It would be too much for most people, she thought, but this dark, mysterious man seemed as if he could handle anything that life laid upon him.
Quite in contrast to his outwardly composed appearance, internally Erik felt as if he had been part of a train wreck. His thoughts were jumbled, each stumbling over the other, competing for priority in his mind. He needed time to think, to sort through all that she had told him. He needed to be alone. It was how he had spent most of his life, and it was still how he preferred to deal with difficulty, having never known the luxury of sharing his burdens with another.
He finally turned from the window, walking toward her at last, his face once again unreadable, "Mademoiselle, I thank you for bringing this information to my attention. I know it was not an easy task, and I admire your courage in completing it so nobly." This, he was surprised to admit to himself, was true. He raised his eyes to hers and continued, 'But as I am sure you understand, I may need some time to...fully comprehend and appreciate all that you have told me tonight." He hoped she would not think him rude for hinting that she leave so obviously.
Helena stood, understanding that he wished to be alone. She withdrew from her handbag a large envelope and a small card, handing them both to him. "These are the documents that I spoke of. I will leave them for you to review." She pointed to the card. "This is the name and address of the inn where I will be staying for some time, until my family business here is complete. Please contact me in the near future, so that I can introduce you to our family attorney. As I am sure you can guess, there are many details in the distribution of the estate and of the running of the many family business ventures that will require your prompt attention, should you choose to accept your rightful position among us." Her brilliant blue eyes were kind as she reached for his hand, "I would be honored to have you as my cousin, monsieur Eric de Noir," she paused, "or should I say, Comte Erik Alexander Frederick de Chagny?" With another brilliant smile, she left him standing dazed as he watched her carriage retreating into the darkness which had long since fallen. He could still smell her perfume.