Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-03-23
CHAPTER VIII.
rho MyrterIou, hrouaham.

everybody. sCarlotta fell i'll. AS for /
Christine Daae. she disappeared after |
the performance. fortnight elapsed |
during which she was seen neither at !
the opera nor outside
Raoul, OF course, was the first TO be |
astonished at the prima donna's alb
sence. He wrote to her at Nine.
Vslerius' fat and received no reply. !
His grief increased and he ended by
being seriously alarmed at never see
ing her name on the program. Faust
was played without her.
One afternoon he went to the man.
ayers office TO ask the reason OF
Christine's disappearance. He found
them both looking extremely worried.
Their own friends did not recognize
them; they had lost all their gaiety
and spirits. They we're seen crossing
the stage with hanging heads, care
worn brows, pale cheeks, as though
pursued by some abominable thought
or q prey to some persistent sport or
fate.
The fall OF the chandelier had in
volved them in no little responsible
ity; but II was difficult TO make them
speak about it. The inquest had end
ed in a verdict OF accidental death,
caused by the wear and tear OF the
chains BY which the chandelier wac
hung from the ceiling: but 1t was the
duty of both the old and the new man.
ayers to have discovered this wear
and tear and TO have remedied 1t in
time. And | feel bound to say that
~EAH In OF fhic
time appeared so changed, so absent
minded, so mysterious, so incompre-
hensible that many OF the subscribers
thought that some event even more
horrible than the fall OF the chande-
Iier must have affected their state OF
mind.
In their daily intercourse, they
showed themselves very impatient,
except with Nine. CRY, who had been
reinstated in her functions. And their
reception OF the Vicomte de Chagny,
when he came to ask about Christine,
vas anything but cordial. They mere
~ told him that she was taking a
holiday. He asked how long the holt
day was for. and they replied curtly
that 1t was for an unlimited period,
IS Mile. Daae had requested leave Of
absence for reasons OF health.
Then she is III" he criod. What
Is the matter with herr"
I'VE don't know"
Didn't you send the doctor OF the
opera to see herr"
mo, she did not ask for him; and,
as we trust her, We took her word"
Raoul left the building a prey to
the gloomiest thoughts. He resolved,
come what might, TO go and inquire
Of Mamma Valerius. He remembered
the strong phrases in Christine's let
ter forbidding him to make any at
,empt TO see her. But what he had
Geen at Perros, what he had heard
behind the dressing-room door, his
conversation with Christine at the
edge OF the moor made him suspect
some Vaccination which. deviIisr
though 1t might be. was none the less
human. The girls highly strung i'm
agination. her affectionate and credu
lous mind. the primitive education
which had surrounded her childhood
with q circle OF legends. the constant
breeding over her dead father and
above all. the state OF sublime &c
stasy into which music threw hel
from the moment that this art wa,
made manifest to her in certain excep
tlonal conditions. as in the churchyert
Mt Perros: all this seemed to him L
constitute a moral ground only too
favorable for the malevolent designs
Of some mysterious and unscrupuloui
person. OF whom was Christine Daa,
The victim? This was the very rea
sonable question which Raoul put Il
himself as he hurried of to MANN,
Valerius.
He trembled as he rang at a littl,
hat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-ViC
torres. The door was opened by tn,
maid when he had seen coming on
OF Christine's dressing-room one eve
ming. He asked II he could speak {,
Nine. Valerius. He was told that shi
was I'll in bed and was not receiving
visitors.
Take in my card. please" he said
The maid soon returned en-,
showed him JHto a small and scantil,
furnished drawingroom. IN which pol
traits OF Professor valerius and oil
Daae hung on opposite walls.
Madame begs monsieur lie vicomt
70 excuse her." said the servant. "Sh
can only see him in her bedroom, b.
cause she can no longer stand on he
poor legs"
Five minutes later, Raoul wa
ushered into an iil-lit room where b
at once recognized the good. kind fac
OF Christine's benefactness in tn
femi-darkness OF an aIcove. MANN
Nalerius' hair was now quite whit.
but her eyes had grown no older
never. on the contrary. had their e.
preston been so bright SO pure. s
child-like.
M. de Chagny!" she cried gain!
putting out both her hands to he
visitor. -Ah, it's heaven that send
you herel We can talk &
her"
: This last sentence sounded yer