Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1913-04-17
CHAPTER Viii.
Ire Mysterious srouaham.

everybody. Carlotta fell ill., AS for
Christine Daae, she disappeared after
the performance. A 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
Falerius' 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 were seen crossing
the stage with hanging heads. care
worn brows, pale cheeks, as though
pursued by some abominable thought
or prey to some persistent sport Of
fate.
The fall OF the chandelier had in
volved them in 10 little responsible
ity; but it was difficult to make them
speak about it. The inquest had end
ed in verdict of accidental death,
caused by the wear and tear of the
chains by which the chandelier was
hung from the ceiling; but it was the
duty Of both the old and the new man
ayers to have discovered this wear
and nd n
time. And / feel bound to say that
NM. Richard and Moncharmin at this
time appeared 50 changed, so absent
minded, so mysterious, so tncompre-
hensibie that many Of the subscribers
thought that some event even more
horrible than the fall of the chande-
lier must have affected their state OF
mind.
In their daily intercourse, they
showed themselves very impatient,
except with Nine. Giry. who had been
reinstated in her functions. And their
reception Of the Vicomte de Chagny,
when he came to ask about Christine,
was anything but cordial. They mere
ly told him that she was taking a
holiday. He asked how long the hoIi-
day was for, and they replied CURLY
that it was for an unlimited period,
as Mile. Daae had requested leave OF
absence for reasons of health.
Then she is ill" he cried. What
is the matter with herr"
We don't know
Didn't you send the doctor OF the
opera to see her?"
No, 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 Falerius. He remembered
the strong phrases in Christine's let
ter, forbidding him to make any at
tempt to see her. But what he had
seen 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 machination which. devilish
though it 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 circle of legends, the constant
brooding over her dead father and,
above all, the state of sublime &C.
stasy into which music threw her
from the moment that this art was
made manifest TO her in certain excnp-
tional conditions, as in the churchyard
at Perros; all this seemed to him to
constitute a moral ground only too
favorable for the maievOlent designs
OF some mysterious and INSCRIPTIONS
person. OF whom was Christine Daae
the victim? This was the very rea-
sonable question which Raoul put to
himself as he hurried off to Mamma
Valerius.
He tTembled as he rang at little
fat in the Rue Notre-D ame-des- Vic.
torres. The door was opened by the
maid when he had seen coming out
of Chrtstine's dressing-room one eve
ming. He asked IT he could speak to
Nine. Valerius. He was told that she
was i'll in bed and was not receiving
visitors
Take in my card please" he said.
The maid soon returned and
showed him into a small and scantily
furnished draWing-room, in which por-
traits of Professor VaIerius and old
Daae hung on opposite walls.
Madame begs monsieur lie vicomte
to excuse her. said the servant She
can only see him in her bedroom, be-
cause she can no longer stand on her
poor legs"
Five minutes later, Raoul was
ushered into an nI-lit room where he
at once recognized the good, kind face
of Christine's benefactress in the
semi-darkness of an aIcove. Mamma
Valerius' hair was now quite white,
but her eyes had grown no older:
never, on the contrary. had their ex-
preston been so bright. so pure. so
child-Iike
M. de Chagny!" she cried gaIly.
putting out both her hands to her
visitor. All, it's heaven that sends
you here! We can talk OF
her"
Y
gloomily in the young mans ears He
at once asked:
Madame &. where is Chris
tine?"
And the old lady replied calmly:
She is with her good genius!"
What good genius" exclaimed
poor Raoul.
Why, the Angel of Music!"
The viscount dropped into a chair.
Really? Christine was with the An
gel of Mltsic? And there lay Mamma
Valerius in bed. smiling to him and
putting her finger to her lips. to warn
him to be silent; And she added:
You must not tell anybody"
Grandfather" Clock 200 Years Old.
remarkable hand made clock is in
the possession of the Swedish Luther
an Orphanage at Avon, Mass. 1t il