47) Adventure in the great wide somewhere

This was it: the perfect house. Once more Raoul made his way through the rooms. They were quite small, even if he tried to forget the kind of house he was used to living in. Yet he didn´t care. He had enough of the noble estates. This was where he wanted to live.

"I take it.", he said, smiling brightly at an elderly woman, the owner of the little house. She knit her brow, making her face even more wrinkled than before. "Are you sure?", she asked cautiously. "This isn´t the only one for sale in the village, you know. M.Vegul has a lovely house just a few miles from here. Maybe that one would be more appropriate for a man of your social status."

Raoul sighed. "Can´t we forget my social status for a moment? You want to get rid of your house, so that you can move in with your son, and I want to buy it. Shouldn´t you be happy instead of sending me to someone else?" The woman looked at him disbelievingly, obviously surprised that he knew about her plan. He had heard about it in the pension he was staying at and visited her at once.

"What… what will you do with it?", she asked. In one of the neighbouring villages a nobleman had recently bought a house to save his spoilt daughter from the dangerous influences in Paris. By now the young woman tyrannized everyone, and some people already thought about moving. A similar fate for this village had to be avoided. Admittedly the man standing in front of her didn´t look old enough to have a spoilt daughter yet, but one could never be too careful.

Raoul´s smile became dreamy as he replied: "I want to live here myself, at least a few months a year. The rest of the time business requires my presence in Paris.". "And you´ll be here… all alone?" Positively surprised about his friendliness the woman grew bolder. She threw a discreet glance at his hand, searching for a wedding ring. In her mind she already saw herself earning a fortune by cleaning for the wealthy bachelor.

The young man didn´t fail to notice the slightly greedy expression on her face. Her thoughts were clear to him, but he had to disappoint her. "No, I´ll bring a lady with me.", he told her. He could only hope this would turn out to be true. "Oh!", the woman made, her dream dissolving quickly. "Well, I´ve told you how much you have to pay. Here´s the contract.", "Thank you.", he muttered, pressing the piece of paper against a wall to sign it and handing her the money.

She looked a little shocked; apparently she hadn´t expected him to pay the whole sum right away. "When will you move in?", she wanted to know. He shrugged. "I´m not sure yet. Maybe in a month´s time…" The woman sensed his discomfort about her question. "It doesn´t matter.", she said hastily. "I´ll just give you the keys, then you can come whenever you please." Raoul nodded eagerly and took the keys as soon as she had pulled them out of her pocket. Now the house was truly his.

"Thank you.", he muttered once more. "You have no idea how much this means to me." The woman still pondered about his words as she walked back to her home after a brief ´goodbye´. What could a house like that mean to a vicomte, who was surely used to much better things? She didn´t find an answer. But then, it was none of her business.

Meanwhile, Raoul stood in front of his new propriety and looked at it from the outside, realising how much there had to be done. In addition to the rotting floorboards, which he had noticed earlier, the roof was leaking and the windows didn´t close properly. As much as he liked the unspoilt state of the house, he didn´t want Christine to break through the floor or catch a cold on her first visit.

He gave a soundless sigh, asking himself for the hundredth time if the girl his heart belonged to would really enjoy being here. It wasn´t the same place she had lived at in her childhood; it wasn´t even the same village. Yet it had the same great view at the sea, and the air tasted just as salty. Even the people at the crowded market place were as noisy and cheerful as in his memories. He had spent the last few days searching, and this house came very close to the ideal in his head.

The screeching of a seagull, a strangely mocking sound, reminded him of a very unpleasant fact that he tried to avoid thinking about most of the time: He couldn´t even be sure Christine would ever see this place. The image of her reading his letter while lying in the arms of the Phantom and tossing it into the fire afterwards was part of every nightmare these days.

And even if her teacher didn´t want her… ´You´re a fool.´, Raoul told himself. ´When will you finally understand that it´s not an ´either – or´ decision? If he doesn´t take her, there are dozens of men who will. Christine is young, she´s beautiful and she doesn´t need someone who tries to re-live his childhood with her.´ ´But perhaps he´ll reject her in such a terrible way that she´ll be glad about having you.´ At this point he forced himself to stop. He simply couldn´t wish for such things to happen, even if he´d profit from them. Making Christine happy was still his primary goal.

Hearing footsteps on the path leading to the house he turned around. A young man approached him. "Excuse me? Are you the Vicomte de Chagny?", he called. Raoul nodded. Giving a sigh of relief the man exclaimed: "Thank goodness! I´ve found you at last!". He drew nearer and went on: "For days I´ve been travelling from village to village, looking for you. In the pension they told me I could meet you here. I hope you don´t think my behaviour inappropriate.".

"No, no!", Raoul assured him. Actually he pitied the man a little. He seemed to be tired and exhausted, and his horse, a slender grey one which Raoul spotted tied to the garden fence, gave the same impression. "Why have you been searching for me?", he wanted to know, growing worried. "Has something happened to one of my sisters? Or to Philippe?" "I have never even heard of those people.", the man admitted, shrugging. "I just have a letter from MM.André and Firmin. They wanted it to reach you as soon as possible. The earlier I´m back in Paris, the more money I receive."

The man rummaged in his many pockets and took out a slightly crumpled and dirty envelope. He handed it to Raoul and wanted to leave at once. Yet he was held back by a hand seizing his shoulder. "Wait a moment! First you have to get this…" Raoul quickly signed a piece of paper. "Otherwise they might not believe you. And now you´ll go back to the pension and stay there for the night. Make sure your horse has a decent stable and some oats; it looks as if it hadn´t eaten for days. Also get a good meal for yourself." With these words he stuffed the paper and a few coins into the man´s hand and let go of him. The man turned around and walked away, shaking his head incredulously about the Vicomte´sstrange behaviour.

When he had left Raoul focused his attention on the letter. What was it the managers wanted to tell him this urgently? He opened the envelope and read: M. le Vicomte! We are sorry to interrupt your holiday, but we have to inform you that our leading soprano and your dear friend Mlle.Christine Daaé has been abducted by the Opera Ghost. He won´t let her free unless we follow each and every of the instructions he gives us for his opera. Of course we comply – what else should we do?

In the last days the Phantom has managed to turn the whole opera upside-down. He replaces musicians and changes the parts of dancers. Although he sends Mlle.Daaé to the rehearsals, he refuses to take part in them himself, so that the understudy has to play his role all the time. Not a single hour passes without a new letter, a new demand. Yesterday he ordered real rats to be on stage to make a scene playing in the sewers more realistic!

We just wanted to tell you these things before you hear about them in a different way. We do our best to keep the press out of it, but more than once articles with surprising facts were published, and we think someone inside the opera keeps the writers informed. Please understand that in times like this we need to rely on our patrons and their support more than ever.

Whatever you´re doing at the moment, we hope it´s more successful than our business. M.André and M.Firmin.

Taking in all the information he had been given Raoul stood still for a moment. Then he made his way around the house. With determined strides he marched further till he reached the beach. Smiling he crumpled the letter into a ball and threw it into the water. Immediately he felt better. In his current situation he was unable to care for the managers´ ridiculous problems. He only cared for one other person: a girl named Christine, who was certainly not staying with the Opera Ghost against her will.