much easier if the light had been put out.
Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. He said:
“Here, I raise my mask a little. … Oh, only a little! … You see my lips, such lips as I have? They’re not moving! … My mouth is closed—such mouth as I have—and yet you hear my voice. … Where will you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? In the table? In those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece? … Listen, dear, it’s in the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: what does it say? ‘ Shall I turn the scorpion? ’ … And now, crack! What does it say in the little box on the left? ‘ Shall I turn the grasshopper? ’ … And now, crack! Here it is in the little leather bag. … What does it say? ‘ I am the little bag of life and death! ’ … And now, crack! It is in Carlotta’s throat, in Carlotta’s golden throat, in Carlotta’s crystal throat, as I live! What does it say? It says, ‘It’s I, Mr. Toad, it’s I singing! I feel without alarm—co-ack—with its melody enwind me—co-ack! ’ … And now, crack! It is on a chair in the ghost’s box and it says, ‘ Madame Carlotta is singing tonight to bring the chandelier down! ’ … And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik’s voice now? Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of the torture-chamber! Listen! It’s myself in the torture-chamber! And what do I say? I say, ‘Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, and come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!’ ”