of Erik at my feet, in the house on the lake, underground. He accuses himself, he curses himself, he implores my forgiveness! … He confesses his cheat. He loves me! He lays at my feet an immense and tragic love. … He has carried me off for love! … He has imprisoned me with him, underground, for love! … But he respects me: he crawls, he moans, he weeps! … And, when I stood up, Raoul, and told him that I could only despise him if he did not, then and there, give me my liberty … he offered it … he offered to show me the mysterious road … Only … only he rose too … and I was made to remember that, though he was not an angel, nor a ghost, nor a genius, he remained the voice … for he sang. And I listened … and stayed! … That night, we did not exchange another word. He sang me to sleep.
“When I woke up, I was alone, lying on a sofa in a simply furnished little bedroom, with an ordinary mahogany bedstead, lit by a lamp standing on the marble top of an old Louis-Philippe chest of drawers. I soon discovered that I was a prisoner and that the only outlet from my room led to a very comfortable bathroom. On returning to the bedroom, I saw on the chest of drawers a note, in red ink, which said, ‘My dear Christine, you need have no concern as to your fate. You have no better nor more respectful friend in the world than myself. You are alone, at present, in this home which is yours. I am going out shopping to fetch you all the things that you can need.’ I felt sure that I had fallen into the hands of a madman. I ran round my little apartment, looking for a way of escape which I could not find. I upbraided myself for my absurd superstition, which had caused me to fall into the trap. I felt inclined to laugh and to cry at the same time.
“This was the state of mind in which Erik found me. After giving three taps on the wall, he walked in quietly through a door which I had not noticed and which he left open. He had his arms full of boxes and parcels and arranged them on the bed, in a leisurely fashion, while I overwhelmed him with abuse and called upon him to take off his mask, if it covered the face of an honest man.