“Well, it won’t take long to find out. Christine, my love, we need not open the door to see what is happening in the torture-chamber. Would you like to see? Would you like to see? Look here! If there is someone, if there is really someone there, you will see the invisible window light up at the top, near the ceiling. We need only draw the black curtain and put out the light in here. There, that’s it. … Let’s put out the light! You’re not afraid of the dark, when you’re with your little husband!”
Then we heard Christine’s voice of anguish:
“No! … I’m frightened! … I tell you, I’m afraid of the dark! … I don’t care about that room now. … You’re always frightening me, like a child, with your torture-chamber! … And so I became inquisitive. … But I don’t care about it now … not a bit … not a bit!”
And that which I feared above all things began, automatically . We were suddenly flooded with light! Yes, on our side of the wall, everything seemed aglow. The Vicomte de Chagny was so much taken aback that he staggered. And the angry voice roared:
“I told you there was someone! Do you see the window now? The lighted window, right up there? The man behind the wall can’t see it! But you shall go up the folding steps: that is what they are there for! … You have often asked me to tell you; and now you know! … They are there to give a peep into the torture-chamber … you inquisitive little thing!”
“What tortures? … Who is being tortured? … Erik, Erik, say you are only trying to frighten me! … Say it, if you love me, Erik! … There are no tortures, are there?”
“Go and look at the little window, dear!”
I do not know if the viscount heard the girl’s swooning voice, for he was too much occupied by the astounding spectacle that now appeared