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Christine Daae has been carried off by an individual called Erik. Do you know this person? Have you seen him?" "Yes." "Where?" "In a church yard." M. Mifroid gave a start, began to scrutinize Raoul again and said: "Of course! ... That's where ghosts usually hang out! ... And what were you doing in that churchyard?"
And, turning to the managers, M. Mifroid asked, "Have you an Angel of Music on the premises, gentlemen?" Richard and Moncharmin shook their heads, without even speaking. "Oh," said the viscount, "those gentlemen have heard of the Opera ghost. Well, I am in a position to state that the Opera ghost and the Angel of Music are one and the same person; and his real name is Erik."
Mercier took advantage of the confusion to slip a key into Gabriel's hand: "This is all going very badly," he whispered. "You had better let Mother Giry out." And Gabriel moved away. They soon came to the managers' door. Mercier stormed in vain: the door remained closed. "Open in the name of the law!" commanded M. Mifroid, in a loud and rather anxious voice. At last the door was opened.
He felt, no doubt, that there are limits to a joke, especially when it is so expensive and when the commissary of police has been informed, for, at the moment when we had made an appointment in our office with M. Mifroid to tell him the whole story, a few days after the disappearance of Christine Daae, we found, on Richard's table, a large envelope, inscribed, in red ink, "WITH O. G.'S COMPLIMENTS." It contained the large sum of money which he had succeeded in playfully extracting, for the time being, from the treasury.
But M. le Commissaire de Police Mifroid would not have been quite so satisfied with himself if he had known that the rush of his rapid emissary was stopped at the entrance to the very first corridor. A tall figure blocked Raoul's way. "Where are you going so fast, M. de Chagny?" asked a voice. Raoul impatiently raised his eyes and recognized the astrakhan cap of an hour ago.
And he rushed out of the office. "And bring her back to us!" cried the commisary gaily ... "Ah, that's a trick worth two of the Angel of Music's!" And, turning to his audience, M. Mifroid delivered a little lecture on police methods.
Thereupon, Raoul and the Persian saw the startled faces of the joint managers appear above the landing and they heard Moncharmin's excited voice: "There are things happening here, Mr. Commissary, which we are unable to explain." And the two faces disappeared. "Thank you for the information, gentlemen," said Mifroid, with a jeer.
Commissary Mifroid shared their view; and the magistrate would certainly have cut short the incoherent narrative if circumstances had not taken it upon themselves to interrupt it. The door opened and a man entered, curiously dressed in an enormous frock-coat and a tall hat, at once shabby and shiny, that came down to his ears. He went up to the commissary and spoke to him in a whisper.
"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives," declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when he comes!" "And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." "Not before the commissary comes." "I've been down to the organ myself already." "Ah! And what did you see?" "Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear nobody!"
"No, not so very long ago ... Wait a bit! ... It was the night ... of course, yes ... It was the night when Carlotta you know, Mr. Commissary gave her famous 'co-ack'!" "Really? The night when Carlotta gave her famous 'co-ack'?" And M. Mifroid, replacing his gleaming glasses on his nose, fixed the stage-manager with a contemplative stare. "So Mauclair takes snuff, does he?" he asked carelessly.
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