IX
"I hate performances," Gustave groaned as he attempted to tie his cravat.
"Hmm, we all do. At least those of us behind the scenes," Antoinette agreed, "a noisy crowd, nervous performers and then the mayhem that ensues afterwards."
"Yes…"
"Let me do that," Antoinette said.
Gustave allowed her to tie the cravat, something he was not very good at. When she was finished he thanked her for the help. Then he picked up his violin and made his way to the orchestra pit.
"Do not forget to stretch," Antoinette reminded the dancers, "I do not want any injuries on stage."
She watched as the girls warmed up, going through their routine stretches and arm positions before the show. The sound of the orchestra tuning was in the background along with the hum of the audience as they gossiped before the show. The comedy was in three acts, which meant two ballets. A full night for her and the dancers.
"Good luck tonight," Monsieur Reyer said as he hurried past.
"You as well Monsieur."
Erik sat through nearly half of the second act before he was overcome by boredom. The opera was amusing, or at least the audience seemed to find it so. He made a mental note that the next time the theatre chose to perform a comedy he would intervene, or at least not attend the performance.
It was a more difficult affair to leave in the middle of a performance. The backstage was crowded and impossible to traverse. Instead he took a longer way, avoiding the backstage and entering one of the many secret passages that littered the walls of the Opera Populaire.
By the time he made it back to the lair the opera was almost over. He could hear the final quartet, a benefit of having a house nearly directly under the stage. As he sat down at the organ he listened intently for the applause. At least this story had a happy ending, with the tragedies everyone died, then they got up and sang about it. When he actually thought about it that was a bit amusing. He decided that if he ever wrote an opera if someone died they were to remain dead.
"Congratulations on a wonderful performance Madame Giry, Monsieur Reyer," Monsieur Lefevre beamed, "and no trouble from our friend."
"Merci Monsieur, "Antoinette replied, "It did in fact go well."
"Yes, rare, but always welcome," Monsieur Reyer agreed.
"Well, two days and then the masquerade. I hope you are both prepared for that."
"Of course," Antoinette replied, moving away from them, "we always are."
She was actually very surprised about Erik's lack of involvement in the opera. Only one note, and that was more of a reminder and complaint with no instruction as to any changes. She saw Gustave preparing to leave and waved to him.
"A good performance tonight," he said as she came over.
"Oui, and fortunately we do not have to do it again."
"A break for me at least," he sighed.
"Oui, but I may give the girls a day off and spend some time with Meg and some friends."
"If you do then you are welcome to visit. Christine would like to see Meg again and my patron makes terribly dull company. When he is around that is."
Antoinette chuckled, "Bonsoir Monsieur Daae."
"Bonsoir.
Antoinette could hear him start to cough as he left. A few days rest would be good for him, a time to get better. With a sigh she made her way back to her room where Meg would be waiting.
"Maman!" Meg exclaimed, embracing her mother's legs.
"What is my dear," she asked, trying to keep her balance.
"I missed you maman, I thought that you would never come back."
"The opera was not that long."
"Was the Opera Ghost there?" she asked nervously.
"Most likely, but no one has ever seen him."
"Some people have," Meg, argued, "Joseph said so and some of the dancers and stage hands…they said it was terribly ugly!"
"Well, one cannot believe everything they hear, they might be rumours," she replied knowingly. After all Erik wore his mask every time he came up. Perhaps he had taken it off to frighten one or two people in the early days, but as a general rule it always remained on.
"Oh…have you ever seen him?"
"I cannot say," she replied, "maybe I have and did not know. After all, no one knows who the ghost is."
"Oh…"
"Time for bed mon cher, it is late."
Meg pouted but quickly scampered into her bed. Antoinette wondered if her child was too curious for her own good. After all, if you searched enough you would eventually find the ghost, wouldn't you?But that was foolish, Erik's life remained so secretive it would take a genius or someone who already knew his secrets to find him in the vast labyrinth beneath the theatre.
Meg followed her mother eagerly through the theatre. With the dancers having a day off it meant that she could spend an entire day with her. Or at least close to an entire day.
"Maman are we going to go shopping?" she asked eagerly.
"Hmm, I do not know. It is cold out and we do not want to get sick."
"But some of the dancers are going shopping," Meg objected.
"That is there choice. Do you want to go shopping?"
"Yes!"
Antoinette laughed lightly, "Very well mon cher, we shall go shopping."
Antoinette spent the rest of her morning and most of her afternoon shopping in Paris. She bought very little, a sweet and some hair ribbons for Meg, which was all.
"Are you going to that," Meg asked, pointing at the sign for the Bal Masque at the front of the theatre.
"Oui."
"Oh, so you get to dress up in fancy clothes then?"
"Yes I do my dear."
"Do I get to go?"
"Not yet, in a few years maybe."
"How many?"
"Too many questions Meg. Hurry up to the dormitory and show what you got to the others. I have to go see someone."
"Monsieur Lefevre?"
"Go, run along."
Meg scampered off, eager to show her new ribbons to the other little girls. Antoinette watched her go and then made her way to the chapel. She was curious as to what Erik thought about the previous night's performance. He had said nothing yet, and that was strange.
The chapel appeared as devoid as life as usual. No one ever seemed to enter it to pay homage to the deceased loved ones. Antoinette took a moment to light the candle for her deceased husband. Chances were that Erik would not even be near enough to hear if she called for him.
"Praying again, are we Madame?" Erik's sultry voice drifted through the small room.
"Good evening Erik."
"Good evening."
"Do you plan on showing yourself?"
"Of course, Madame."
It took a couple of minutes, but he did appear and sat on the bench by the large stain glass window.
"Did you enjoy the performance?" Antoinette asked.
"It was…decent," he replied, "but not something I particularly enjoyed. The ballets were nice, if that's what you mean."
"I take it that the Opera Populaire will not be performing many more comedies then."
"One never knows, after all I could decide on a whim that I enjoy comedies and have the theatre do an entire assortment of them."
Antoinette rolled her eyes as he began to hit his heels rhythmically against the stone bench. Sometimes his childish behaviour and proneness to sarcasm was quite off putting.
"Will I have a note anytime soon?"
"No," he replied simply, "the masquerade is coming and I have decided to give your manager a small breather before I next insult him."
"Hmm, you believe that if you will," she replied. Honestly the longer he waited to send the note the more worried Monsieur Lefevre would become, "Well in that case I should be going."
"Oh…"
She turned her head in surprise. He sounded disappointed that she was leaving, "Could it be that our infamous Opera Ghost is getting a bit lonely under the theatre?"
"Don't be foolish Madame," he replied curtly, "loneliness is certainly something I do not suffer from. Boredom however, well that is an entirely other matter. This place can be terribly tedious at times."
"Read a book," she suggested, "and please stop that. It is terribly annoying to have someone beating his or her heels constantly against a wall. It is a terribly annoying habit."
Erik stopped the beating of his heels and sighed, "Very well Madame, good night then."
"Good night Erik."
He waited until she was gone to let out an exasperated sigh, kicking the wall rather firmly with his heel. But then there was the sound of footsteps on the stairs again and he evaporated into the dark passage. Not many people entered the chapel, but that didn't mean nobody ever did.
Ooh, many reviews thank you all. Lotte Rose 37, yes that's what I was thinking when I started to write the romance, after all they would have had to have been at least friend I just took it further. Chibi, haIdon't understand Japanese, well at least not a lot...oh well at least you bought more cookies and keep it up, french is hard to learn, and thank you. I do like to be original! InuLvr7 welcome back, I was wondering where you had gotten to. ANyways now I've rambled enough so hope you enjoyed the chapter and don't forget to review.
