About the same time, Carlotta, who had a small house of her own in the Rue du Faubourg St. Honoré, rang for her maid, who brought her letters to her bed. Among them was an anonymous missive, written in red ink, in a hesitating, clumsy hand, which ran:

If you appear tonight, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at the moment when you open your mouth to sing⁠ ⁠… a misfortune worse than death.

If you appear tonight, you must be prepared for a great misfortune at the moment when you open your mouth to sing⁠ ⁠… a misfortune worse than death.

The letter took away Carlotta’s appetite for breakfast. She pushed back her chocolate, sat up in bed and thought hard. It was not the first letter of the kind which she had received, but she never had one couched in such threatening terms.