“It’s he!” he exclaimed. “This time, he shall not escape me!⁠ ⁠…”

But Christine had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul was on the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside.

“Whom do you mean by ‘he’?” she asked, in a changed voice. “Who shall not escape you?”

Raoul tried to overcome the girl’s resistance by force, but she repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her. He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper.

“Who?” he repeated angrily. “Why, he, the man who hides behind that hideous mask of death!⁠ ⁠… The evil genius of the churchyard at Perros!⁠ ⁠… Red Death!⁠ ⁠… In a word, madam, your friend⁠ ⁠… your Angel of Music!⁠ ⁠… But I shall snatch off his mask, as I shall snatch off my own; and, this time, we shall look each other in the face, he and I, with no veil and no lies between us; and I shall know whom you love and who loves you!”