September 9th 1892: Erik
"Here we are," I said, tugging at the reins to make the horse stop. My words, combined with the sudden lack of motion, woke up the Vicomte. "But… we´re at our house," he muttered, peering outside. "I know it´s your house," I told him coolly. "That´s why I brought you here. What wrong about it?" It was amazing that this man possessed the unique talent of annoying me after barely a minute. Not even the new diva could do it that quickly.
Giving a yawn he replied: "We have to go to the opera and get the children first. They´ll be worried about us.". "They´re not worried – they´re certainly sleeping," I corrected him. "You can´t seriously want to wake them up at two in the morning and drag them out of my house, just to tell them everything´s all right with their mother." For a few moments he was silent; he had either fallen asleep again or was considering my words. I could only hope it was the latter. Having sat almost motionlessly in the coachbox for hours I felt every bone in my body and longed for arriving at home. The prospect of a crackling fire and a good glass of wine was becoming more appealing by the second.
At last he asked: "But where do the children stay in your house? I mean, Christine once told me you sleep in a… erm, a coffin.". Turning around in my seat I nodded. "That´s true. I also have a bed, though. Christine used to sleep there." That fact wasn´t exactly important at the moment. I just enjoyed watching him grow pale at the reminder of his wife´s past with me. Involuntarily he tightened his grip around her shoulders. Fortunately it wasn´t enough to disturb her sleep. "And there´s a sofa, too," I went on, trying to hide my smug smile. "I´m sure they´ll have found a nice, comfortable place."
"Do you also have enough food?" he wanted to know. "I have everything they need," I said shortly, before he could start asking me about every single item in my house. "I´ll take Antoinette to Mme.Tadoux in the morning, and Philippe can stay with – erm, he will go to his teacher as well, of course." Inwardly I groaned about my stupidity. The truth had almost slipped out of my mouth. It was a clear sign that I was getting tired.
He glanced at me curiously. "So you know who that teacher is?" he asked. "Christine makes such a big mystery out of it. It´s almost as if – " He interrupted himself, his eyes narrowing. I could practically see comprehension dawn on him. Then he uttered the question I had dreaded: "Are you his teacher?". I had no idea how to react. If I gave the truthful answer, it would only lead to many more awkward questions. But if I didn´t, it would make things even harder for Christine. I didn´t want her to deal with my lies as well as her own. Besides, if I told him now, his worst fury would be over by the time she´d wake up. So I took a deep breath and said: "Yes, I am his teacher.".
RaoulAt first I couldn´t believe my ears. My suspicion had been barely more than a vague guess, and having it confirmed like that was a shock. Thoughts flew to my mind rapidly, putting together a picture I didn´t like at all. It was a picture of Christine, the woman I was in love with since our childhood, and the Phantom, the man I had rescued her from. In my mind they were sitting together or lying in that bed he had mentioned so casually, kissing each other, laughing about me, her fool of a husband.
"So she has known that you were there for all those years," I hissed, thought I felt more like shouting. "You´ve met, haven´t you? You´ve met behind my back and you´ve… you´ve…" "It´s not the way it seems," he said calmly. I hadn´t even noticed that he had left the coachbox, but I saw him standing next to the coach now. He actually put a hand on my shoulder, muttering: "I´m not the right person to explain all this to you. It´s something Christine should do.".
Shrugging off his hand angrily I called: "Let´s wake her up then!". She had slept soundly for the entire journey, yet since our conversation had grown heated, she had already stirred a few times. I couldn´t wait any longer; I had to hear the whole truth. What else should I have done – gone to bed and pretended nothing had happened until the time she´d wake up by herself?
Yet before I could do more than remove my arm from her shoulders he seized my wrists in a firm grip. "You will not do that!" he snarled. "You will wait till morning. Then you´ll check whether she´s fine. If she´s not, you´ll call a doctor. And afterwards you´ll have plenty of time to talk to her. But I´ll be there as well. After all, this is about the three of us."
"Why should I do what you want?" I asked. This man would certainly not tell me how to treat my wife. I still had a tiny bit of hope that once I´d have talked to her, everything would be all right again, and I wouldn´t let that chance be spoilt by him. "Because I´ll stay at your house for the night and make sure you do," he replied. "There´ll surely be a free bed in one of your guestrooms, won´t there? I don´t even demand a coffin…"
I stared at him, unable to understand how he could be joking in a situation this serious. Didn´t he see that I was standing at the edge of an abyss that was getting deeper with every moment? Did he have to taunt me even more? "I don´t want you in my house," I muttered weakly, feeling very tired all of a sudden. "I want you to go and never come back." "I´m afraid that´s impossible," he said pleasantly. "I´m a part of your wife´s and you son´s life, whether you like it or not. And I will stay at her side because I promised her to. Understood?" He tightened his grasp so suddenly that I inhaled sharply.
I nodded reluctantly, knowing that I had lost. He let go of me at last. We both looked at Christine, but our discussion hadn´t disturbed her slumber. She was leaning against my side now. In silent agreement I seized her under the armpits and the Phantom wrapped his bony arms around her legs. Usually I´d have protested against him touching her in such an indecent way, yet today I was too upset to care. Who knew where else that man had already touched her?
We pulled her out of the coach, and I took her into my arms again to get her into our home, while he had to stay with the horse till someone would come and bring it to the stable. The entrance door opened before I had even turned the key. Jacqueline peered outside. "Oh, thank goodness you´re back!" she cried. "Is everything all right with her? We were so worried that we didn´t go to bed before we knew what happened."
As she opened the door a little more I saw Larisse and Jacques standing in the corridor as well. The cook looked just as anxious and exhausted as Jacqueline, whereas nothing indicated that my old servant had stayed up longer than usual or was worried about us. "Christine is fine," I informed them, causing the two women to sigh in relief. "She just fell asleep outside and is very cold now. Tomorrow she´ll feel much better. Larisse, could we get a hot-water bottle? Jacques, I know it´s not part of your normal job, but someone has to take the horse to its stable and give it hay and fresh water. And Jacqueline… could you prepare the guestroom at the far end of the corridor? The man who visited me this evening… he´ll stay for the night. Oh, and send a message to the opera, saying that we´ve found Christine alive and well." The servants nodded and walked away in different directions.
Christine didn´t even stir as I carried her up the stairs. She had merely buried her face at my shoulder the moment we had entered the house, probably to avoid the sudden brightness. I sighed deeply. Her body felt so good pressing against mine, so… normal, as if this was just an ordinary day. I recalled an evening one or two months after our wedding when we had come home very late. Christine had been so tired that I had carried her all the way to our bed, where she had shown me that she hadn´t been that tired after all. I had to bite my lip to keep me from shouting or bursting into tears… or maybe both. Our life had been so happy. What had gone wrong?
There was just one way to find out. But I had to wait for a little while, till everyone else was asleep. When we reached our bedroom I lay her down on the bed cautiously and removed her shoes and stockings. Then I fetched a nightdress and a pair of thick woollen socks and replaced the clothes she had worn before with them. Even these motions didn´t wake her up completely. She murmured a "Thank you…" and sank back onto the soft pillows. I covered her with the blanket and sat down at her side, watching her sleep. She looked so very pretty.
A few minutes later Larisse brought the hot-water bottle, and I placed it at Christine´s still rather cold feet. Now all I could do was wait. Anxiously I listened to the sounds in the corridor, checking my pocket watch every now and then. After an hour I had the impression that it was safe to do it. It was very quiet in the house. I had given the Phantom a guestroom far away from here; he wouldn´t hear anything. Besides, this was none of his business. If I wanted to talk to my wife at three in the morning, I would do so. I didn´t need anyone´s permission. "Christine?" I whispered. "Christine, wake up!"