steps moved away, a door closed.i had no time to think of the fresh horror that was preparing; i forgot that the monster was only going out perhaps to perpetrate a fresh crime; i understood but one thing:
christine was alone behind the wall!
the vicomte de chagny was already calling to her:
"christine! christine!"
as we could hear what was said in the next room, there was no reason why my companion should not be heard in his turn.
nevertheless, the viscount had to repeat his cry time after time.
at last, a faint voice reached us.
"i am dreaming!" it said.
"christine, christine, it is i, raoul!"
a silence.
"but answer me, christine!...in heaven's name, if you are alone, answer me!"then christine's voice whispered raoul's name.
"yes! yes! it is i! it is not a dream!...christine, trust me!...we are here to save you...but be prudent!
when you hear the monster, warn us!"
then christine gave way to fear.she trembled lest erik should discover where raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words that erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided tokill everybody and himself with everybody if she did not consent to become his wife.he had given her till eleven o'clock the next evening for reflection.it was the last respite.she must choose, as he said, between the wedding mass and the requiem.
and erik had then uttered a phrase which christine did not quite understand:
"yes or no! if your answer is no, everybody will be dead and buried!"but i understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded in a terrible manner with my own dreadful thought.
"can you tell us where erik is?" i asked.
she replied that he must have left the house.
"could you make sure?"