Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1912-06-13

we were dlA W uO uAOWh ny - 49,
middle OF the performance II
Christine Daae said no!
Eleven o'clock tomorrow evening!
And what else could Christine say
but no? Would she not prefer to es-
pouse death itself rather than that liv-
ing corpse? She did not know that
on her acceptance or refusal depend
ed the awful fate of many members
Of the human race!
Eleven O'Clock tomorrow evening!
And we dragged ourselves through
the darkness, feeling our way to the
stone steps, for the light in the trap
door overhead that led to the room
of mirrors was now extinguished; ana
we repeated to ourselves:
Eleven o'clock tomorrow evening!
At last. / found the staircase. But,
suddenly drew myself up on the
first step. for a terrible thought had
come to my mind:
''What IL the timer" s. - ,..
All. what was the time?s !.
For, after all, eleven o'clock tomorrow
evening might be now, might be this
very moment! Who could tell US
the time? We seemed to have been
imprisoned in that hell for days and
days for years since
the beginning of the world. Perhaps
we should be blown up then and
there! All, sound! A crack!
did you hear that? .. There.
in the corner good heavens!
Like sound Of machinery!
Again! On Tor .
light! Perhaps it's the MAJ
chinery that is to blow everything upI
tell you, cracking sound;
are you deafY"
M. de Chagny and began to yell
like madmen. Fear spurred us on.
We rushed up the .treads of the stair
case. stumbling as we went, anything
to escape the dark, to return TO the
mortal light OF the room OF mirrors!
We found the trap-door still open.
but 1t was now as dark in the room
of mirrors as in the cellar which we
had left. We dragged ourselves along
the floor Of the torture-chamber, the
floor that separated US from the pow
der.magazine. What was the time!
We shouted, we called: M. de Chagny
to Christine, l to Erik. ] reminded
him that l had saved his life. But
NO answer. save that Of our despair
az our madness: what was the time!
We argued, we tried to calculate the
time we had spent there. but we were
incapable Of reasoning. II only We
could see the face OF q watch! +.
Mine had stopped, but M. de Chagny's
was still going. He told me
that he had wound it up before dress
ing for the opera. we. mad
not q match upon us. Ana
vet we must know. IA. de
Chagny broke the glass OF his watch
and felt the two hands. be
questioned the hands OF the watch
with his finger-tips, going BY the po-
sition Of the ring Of the watch.
Judging by the space between the
hands, he thought 1t might be Just
eleven o'clockl
But perhaps II was not the eleven
O'Clock Of which we stood in dread.
Perhaps we Mad still twelve hours Do
fore us!
suddenly. / exclaimed: -dnshi"
seemed to hear footsteps In the
next room. Some one tapped against
the wan. Christine Daae's voice said:
s.RaouIf Raoull"
We we're now ali talking at once,
ON either side Of the wall Christine
sobbed: she was not sure that she
would ind n. de Chagny alive The
monster had been terrible. Il seemed.
had done nothing but rave, waiting
Tor her to give him the yes which
re refused. And yet ahe had prom
ieed him that -yea." 4 he would take
her to the torturechamber. But be
hnd obsfinatsly declined. ana haa q
tnr,d nideona threats against all the
members q ne human. racel Al last