Chapter 95 Truth serum

De Chagny and Nadir stood by the fire, leaning against the sides of the mantel. Snifters of cognac half drunk, aromatic cigars in their hands. "I shan't recall having a more splendid evening in a very long time." De Chagny said feeling genuinely pleased with himself.

"I am most agreeable to that statement, they simply do not breed our kind anymore!" Nadir's statement making De Chagny laugh all the more. Nadir knew that this was his window of opportunity. If ever there was a time that was ripe to elicit information from this man, tonight was it. "Now, pray do tell, a man as handsome as this one," Nadir pointed toward the portrait that hung above the mantel, did more than hunt wild beasts!"

DeChagny took a sip from his snifter, raising an eye toward the picture. "Ah yes, in those days, I was quite a lady's man. Much to my father's chagrin I'm afraid!"

"Now come, do tell, perhaps we have that in common as well. I dare say that I was once a more ravishing character than the stout little tub that stands before you. Once I too found the two-legged creatures more preferable than the beasts of the woods. Though as time has marched on, I find that I have much more luck with the beasts of the woods!" That caused yet another round of raucous laughter between the men.

"Oh yes, it is a very good thing that we are men of wealth or we'd find ourselves quite alone most nights!" De Chagny said, puffing on his cigar making the amber tip glow a bright burning orange. He exhaled the smoke swirling above their heads adding to the haze of scented stale air that hung like a cloud in the parlor. Nadir was silent. If given no other choice, he would start with a story of his own, but he hoped the mood had been set for De Chagny to speak first. He waited, waited, and then it came.

De Chagny motioned for him to sit in the chairs by the fire. "Yes, I must admit the pursuit of being a suitor was rather tedious. All of those stuffy old men, pushing their daughters into my lap. Pretentious snobs, hardly an attractive one in the lot of them! Oh, do not get me wrong, I suited them well, in fact let us just say that many a fine man in this town would likely be aghast at how well I knew their wives when we were adolescents!"

Nadir laughed, lifting his snifter to his lips. "Yes, yes, I understand!" He paused, "so how is it De Chagny that you've not a gaggle of children running your life amuck?" The pair laughed.

"It is a bit of a wonder, although I can assure you, I'd have been called out for it had any of the young women of society turned up with child. In those cases at least, I am quite certain!" Laughing they sipped the last of their cognac, sitting the snifters down on the table between them.

"I rather began to wonder about myself." Nadir said, hoping this personal interjection would encourage De Chagny to continue. "In all the women I've known, in the biblical sense, I'd not produced even one heir for my estate, at least not that I know of anyway! My wife was barren, or so she thought, perhaps it had been me all the time!"

De Chagny laughed, yes, it is the ones we don't know of that worry us the most. Though I'm certain by this time, the poor lonely women who raised them would have tracked us down like dogs!" The pair continued to laugh, the liquor making them take this temporary leave of their good senses. "Yes, we are fortunate men aren't we." De Chagny said.

Nadir's hopes were dimming that he would share details of his youth, yet there had to be a way. He wracked his mind trying to find something, anything that would assist him. But then, without intervention, his silence had produced the space that De Chagny needed to begin.

"When I was a young man, my father rather worried about that. He wanted no family scandal, though he often encouraged me to traipse around with all sorts of young ladies. I can remember the summer I'd just finished school. He was determined to get me to settle down with the first suitable young woman he could find. He'd had several balls, hoping I'd make a good match." His face scowled, "you'd have thought I was prince Charming the way he paraded young woman in front of me!" Nadir laughed, De Chagny did not, it was a rather sore subject, yet he continued.

"That summer, he'd decided he needed to send me off to as he said, sew my wild oats. He'd sent me to a small village, oh, hours from Paris, where the name De Chagny meant nothing. He was convinced that once I had been appropriately loosed, that I'd be ready to settle down and move into a proper, respectable family life." He shook his head. "I was no more ready to settle down than the bull that roams the pen of cows! But he was determined to break me of this mindset. So off to the village I was sent. An innkeeper became my watcher. It was odd really, she didn't ask many questions of me. My father had paid the bill in full for the summer and had told the woman that I needed time to stretch my legs after being in school, and before I settled down with my betrothed. Though I'd not had one! Whatever the case was, she was a very kind woman, who minded her own business, not mine." De Chagny stopped.

The pause was long, making Nadir a bit uncomfortable that he'd told all he would. De Chagny yawned, stretching a bit, he smiled over at Nadir before glancing back into the fire.

"It was the innkeeper's friend that brought Claire into my life that summer." He grinned, but it quickly dissipated. "Claire?" Nadir inquired. "Yes, Claire, she was a very vivacious young woman. Her mother was dear friends with the innkeeper. I'd oft wondered, but never did ask what the connection was between the women. It was an unlikely pairing since Claire's family were quite wealthy, and associating with an innkeeper was certainly beneath her social standing." De Chagny looked as though he was pondering that question all over again in his mind. He glanced up at Nadir, "Claire was the wealthy woman's daughter." "Ah," Nadir said.

"It was an entirely wonderful summer. Claire and I met in the library at the inn. We'd become quite good friends as she rather preferred the same sort of literature. That was mid-May. She came three or four times a week with her mother, and we'd sit having tea and just talking about books, about school, friends…." De Chagny's face was lit like a tree on Christmas Eve as he recalled the events.

"Well, by the middle of June, we'd become rather fond of one another. I'd half thought of writing to my father telling him that I'd met someone, but I knew that it would be quickly dismissed because he wanted me to marry someone from one of the finer families in Paris." He sighed.

"Claire and I eventually found ourselves spending every day together. She paid a visit even when she wasn't in her mother's company. I dare say we became rather inseparable." He smiled again, flashing a rather braggart look at Nadir. "We simply found ourselves unable to stay platonic." Nadir nodded. "But then by the beginning of September, Claire had started to grow rather distant, I didn't know what I had done to cool her ardor. I thought our passion had perhaps run its course." Nadir's heart was in his throat, he may very well have happened on the very subject he so needed to know. There was a long silence.

De Chagny looked up, and a faint look of pain crossed his face, a brief vulnerable stare that quickly faded. "I was rather fond of Claire. I simply could not figure what to do. Her mother's visits became less frequent, and she stopped bringing Claire with her when she came. It had been nearly two weeks since I'd last seen her. I'd be leaving by the middle of October and I didn't want to leave without ever knowing what I had done to cause this. One night, I ventured over to the house where she and her mother had waited the summer for her father to return from the Americas." He shook his head.

"I felt like something right out of Shakespeare, tossing stones up at Claire's window until a lamp came on. She quickly turned it down and in a few minutes time she was outside on the lawn with me. We wandered far back into one of the gardens before we exchanged so much as a word. Claire held me closely, until her trembling stopped."

His gaze was distant now. His reflexes were slowed, the effects of all the brandy were slowly limiting his ability to converse, yet he continued. "She told me the news. Her father had found out and had forbid her to see me again. The baby would be born and given to a distant relative, one who was barren. He'd tell her he brought it back from the America's for her, as an orphan. I tried to talk her out of it. We could run away, the two of us. But in all of our anxiousness we knew that neither of us could survive long without our families. I tried to stay in touch with her after that night. One maid, that was about her age, exchanged letters for us until it was time for me to return to Paris."

His eyes were glossy, and he rubbed at them a bit before he finished. "I'd received a few letters after I left there, the last one being the most difficult. Claire had birthed a boy…she never even got to hold it….it lived hours only." He shook his head. "That was the last letter I ever received. I never did learn what had become of her. I'd even wandered back there once a year later, but no one knew how to find the family. The house had been only rented that summer, and the family hadn't returned."

De Chagny looked up at Nadir feeling somewhat relieved to be done. "I've never told another soul of this Nadir, not even Raoul."

Nadir reached out placing his hand firmly on De Chagny's shoulder. "You should know that of my many admirable qualities, keeping one's confidences is by far the greatest, do not worry."

De Chagny smiled, perhaps the most sincere one Nadir had seen since he'd met the man. De Chagny shook his head again standing. The stumps of the cigars snuffed in the crystal dish. "I think you must be exhausted by now, having traveled all that way. I do know Raoul has prepared a guest room for you….I'd fetch a maid, but I'm certain they've all gone to bed by now, whatever hour is it?" He said struggling to read the clock. "It is the wee hours irregardless, time to retire. I shall escort you myself, if you don't mind." De Chagny grabbed onto Nadir's shoulder and they walked toward the stairs. "It is good to have you in the house Nadir."

Nadir smiled. In those few hours he'd formed a bond with a man that he'd intended to keep as an adversary. It was often those unintended consequences that made life so very complicated Nadir thought as they mounted the stairs.

Once they were at the door at Nadir's suite, De Chagny turned to Nadir and said something that made both of them laugh, though there was a very serious undertone. "Now good sir, do remember I am a rather skilled hunter. I'd not want to see anything happen to you should you forget your promises!" Nadir laughed, "do not worry my friend…good night."

DeChagny walked back down the stairs to his quarters. Nadir closed the door behind him. His eyes were heavy but he could not believe his good fortune. The very first night in Paris had produced the one thing he wanted most. The rest would have to be investigated thoroughly, but he had a feeling his hunch was right. What in the world this would mean for this entire family, he had no idea. He wondered how, or if he'd be able to find that woman, the village De Chagny had visited or where he had stayed. No doubt it would take a lot of doing, but he vowed he would.

XXXX

Christine had been wandering in her dreams. She could see Erik again on the shore, running with a young girl, hand in hand….she begging him to sing, as they playfully ran through the surf. Christine held a bundle in her arms, she'd been cooing to it. When she looked down into the bundle, she unwrapped layer after layer of cloth, but it was empty. She looked up at the little girl who was waving to her. "Mommy, come here, we've found something!"

Christine was on her feet, empty blanketing abandoned on the sand behind her. As she joined them she looked down at a mass that lay on the smooth sand, it looked somewhat like a jelly fish, but it was formed much differently.

"Daddy, what is it?" Erik stood motionless, unable to speak. The little girl turned to Christine, "Mommy?"

Christine jerked. She was awake again. She could feel Erik's strong arms around her, the warmth of him radiating inside the cloak, keeping her comfortable. She couldn't say it was a nightmare, it wasn't frightening. She'd not tell Erik of it she decided, he seemed to worry so about these things.

Erik felt Christine readjust her position on his chest slightly. How he loved to feel her hands about his waist as she nestled in ever closer…it sent tingles up his spine. He could not tolerate being parted from her, thought the embarrassment of only nights before were still fresh in his memory. His inability to love her smarted sharply against his feeling of duty. They were as close as any two could be, sitting atop the horse that carried them home, yet that didn't even feel close enough for him. Tonight, he hoped, Christine would not worry about his wounds, about his recovery, about anything at all. Tonight he wanted them to think about each other, nothing more, nothing less.

Author's notes:

It is with great sadness that I must tell you I will be parted with my computer for five days. Yes, several of family of reviewers can feel my pain, having just gone through this themselves. Friday will be the last chapter until the middle of next week (for those working on "real-time" that means August 11th, 2005!) I'm off to a wedding in Las Vegas, not mine, thank heavens! Chapter 96 I hope, will provide a nice fluffy cushion to rest on until I get back. I promise, I will make the wait worth it. The chapters will continue to be written, though it will require the now antiquated pen-and-paper instead of my beloved keyboard. I wish I could write as fast as I can type!