Chapter XIV The Singular Attitude of a Safety-Pin
Behind the curtain, there was an indescribable crowd. Artists,scene-shifters, dancers, supers, choristers, subscribers were allasking questions, shouting and hustling one another.
"What became of her?"
"She's run away."
"With the Vicomte de Chagny, of course!"
"No, with the count!"
"Ah, here's Carlotta! Carlotta did the trick!"
"No, it was the ghost!" And a few laughed, especially as a carefulexamination of the trap-doors and boards had put the idea of anaccident out of the question.
Amid this noisy throng, three men stood talking in a low voice and withdespairing gestures. They were Gabriel, the chorus-master; Mercier,the acting-manager; and Remy, the secretary. They retired to a cornerof the lobby by which the stage communicates with the wide passageleading to the foyer of the ballet. Here they stood and argued behindsome enormous "properties."
"I knocked at the door," said Remy. "They did not answer. Perhapsthey are not in the office. In any case, it's impossible to find out,for they took the keys with them."
"They" were obviously the managers, who had given orders, during thelast entr'acte, that they were not to be disturbed on any pretextwhatever. They were not in to anybody.
"All the same," exclaimed Gabriel, "a singer isn't run away with, fromthe middle of the stage, every day!"
"Did you shout that to them?" asked Mercier, impatiently.
"I'll go back again," said Remy, and disappeared at a run.
Thereupon the stage-manager arrived.
"Well, M. Mercier, are you coming? What are you two doing here?You're wanted, Mr. Acting-Manager."
"I refuse to know or to do anything before the commissary arrives,"declared Mercier. "I have sent for Mifroid. We shall see when hecomes!"
"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!"
"What do you want me to do down there for{sic}?"
"You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his handsthrough his rebellious hair. "You're right! But there might be someone at the organ who could tell us how the stage came to be suddenlydarkened. Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found. Do you understandthat?"
Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on thestage of the Opera.
"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback. "Well,what about his assistants?"
"There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, I tellyou! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that littlegirl must have been carried off by somebody else: she didn't run awayby herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find out aboutit ... And what are the managers doing all this time? ... I gaveorders that no one was to go down to the lights and I posted a firemanin front of the gas-man's box beside the organ. Wasn't that right?"
"Yes, yes, quite right, quite right. And now let's wait for thecommissary."
The stage-manager walked away, shrugging his shoulders, fuming,muttering insults at those milksops who remained quietly squatting in acorner while the whole theater was topsyturvy{sic}.
Gabriel and Mercier were not so quiet as all that. Only they hadreceived an order that paralyzed them. The managers were not to bedisturbed on any account. Remy had violated that order and met with nosuccess.
At that moment he returned from his new expedition, wearing a curiouslystartled air.
"Well, have you seen them?" asked Mercier.
"Moncharmin opened the door at last. His eyes were starting out of hishead. I thought he meant to strike me. I could not get a word in; andwhat do you think he shouted at me? 'Have you a safety-pin?' 'No!''Well, then, clear out!' I tried to tell him that an unheard-of thinghad happened on the stage, but he roared, 'A safety-pin! Give me asafety-pin at once!' A boy heard him--he was bellowing like abull--ran up with a safety-pin and gave it to him; whereupon Moncharminslammed the door in my face, and there you are!"
"And couldn't you have said, 'Christine Daae.'"
"I should like to have seen you in my place. He was foaming at themouth. He thought of nothing but his safety-pin. I believe, if theyhadn't brought him one on the spot, he would have fallen down in a fit!... Oh, all this isn't natural; and our managers are going mad! ...Besides, it can't go on like this! I'm not used to being treated inthat fashion!"
Suddenly Gabriel whispered:
"It's another trick of O. G.'s."
Rimy gave a grin, Mercier a sigh and seemed about to speak ... but,meeting Gabriel's eye, said nothing.
However, Mercier felt his responsibility increased as the minutespassed without the managers' appearing; and, at last, he could stand itno longer.
"Look here, I'll go and hunt them out myself!"
Gabriel, turning very gloomy and serious, stopped him.
"Be careful what you're doing, Mercier! If they're staying in theiroffice, it's probably because they have to! O. G. has more than onetrick in his bag!"
But Mercier shook his head.
"That's their lookout! I'm going! If people had listened to me, thepolice would have known everything long ago!"
And he went.
"What's everything?" asked Remy. "What was there to tell the police?Why don't you answer, Gabriel? ... Ah, so you know something! Well,you would do better to tell me, too, if you don't want me to shout outthat you are all going mad! ... Yes, that's what you are: mad!"
Gabriel put on a stupid look and pretended not to understand theprivate secretary's unseemly outburst.
"What 'something' am I supposed to know?" he said. "I don't know whatyou mean."
Remy began to lose his temper.
"This evening, Richard and Moncharmin were behaving like lunatics,here, between the acts."
"I never noticed it," growled Gabriel, very much annoyed.
"Then you're the only one! ... Do you think that I didn't see them? ...And that M. Parabise, the manager of the Credit Central, noticednothing? ... And that M. de La Borderie, the ambassador, has no eyes tosee with? ... Why, all the subscribers were pointing at our managers!"
"But what were our managers doing?" asked Gabriel, putting on his mostinnocent air.
"What were they doing? You know better than any one what they weredoing! ... You were there! ... And you were watching them, you andMercier! ... And you were the only two who didn't laugh."
"I don't understand!"
Gabriel raised his arms and dropped them to his sides again, whichgesture was meant to convey that the question did not interest him inthe least. Remy continued:
"What is the sense of this new mania of theirs? WHY WON'T THEY HAVEANY ONE COME NEAR THEM NOW?"
"What? WON'T THEY HAVE ANY ONE COME NEAR THEM?"
"AND THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM!"
"Really? Have you noticed THAT THEY WON'T LET ANY ONE TOUCH THEM?That is certainly odd!"
"Oh, so you admit it! And high time, too! And THEN, THEY WALKBACKWARD!"
"BACKWARD! You have seen our managers WALK BACKWARD? Why, I thoughtthat only crabs walked backward!"
"Don't laugh, Gabriel; don't laugh!"
"I'm not laughing," protested Gabriel, looking as solemn as a judge.
"Perhaps you can tell me this, Gabriel, as you're an intimate friend ofthe management: When I went up to M. Richard, outside the foyer,during the Garden interval, with my hand out before me, why did M.Moncharmin hurriedly whisper to me, 'Go away! Go away! Whatever youdo, don't touch M. le Directeur!' Am I supposed to have an infectiousdisease?"
"It's incredible!"
"And, a little later, when M. de La Borderie went up to M. Richard,didn't you see M. Moncharmin fling himself between them and hear himexclaim, 'M. l'Ambassadeur I entreat you not to touch
M. le Directeur'?"
"It's terrible! ... And what was Richard doing meanwhile?"
"What was he doing? Why, you saw him! He turned about, BOWED IN FRONTOF HIM, THOUGH THERE WAS NOBODY IN FRONT OF HIM, AND WITHDREW BACKWARD."
"BACKWARD?"
"And Moncharmin, behind Richard, also turned about; that is, hedescribed a semicircle behind Richard and also WALKED BACKWARD! ... Andthey went LIKE THAT to the staircase leading to the managers' office:BACKWARD, BACKWARD, BACKWARD! ... Well, if they are not mad, will youexplain what it means?"
"Perhaps they were practising a figure in the ballet," suggestedGabriel, without much conviction in his voice.
The secretary was furious at this wretched joke, made at so dramatic amoment. He knit his brows and contracted his lips. Then he put hismouth to Gabriel's ear:
"Don't be so sly, Gabriel. There are things going on for which you andMercier are partly responsible."
"What do you mean?" asked Gabriel.
"Christine Daae is not the only one who suddenly disappeared to-night."
"Oh, nonsense!"
"There's no nonsense about it. Perhaps you can tell me why, whenMother Giry came down to the foyer just now, Mercier took her by thehand and hurried her away with him?"
"Really?" said Gabriel, "I never saw it."
"You did see it, Gabriel, for you went with Mercier and Mother Giry toMercier's office. Since then, you and Mercier have been seen, but noone has seen Mother Giry."
"Do you think we've eaten her?"
"No, but you've locked her up in the office; and any one passing theoffice can hear her yelling, 'Oh, the scoundrels! Oh, the scoundrels!'"
At this point of this singular conversation, Mercier arrived, all outof breath.
"There!" he said, in a gloomy voice. "It's worse than ever! ... Ishouted, 'It's a serious matter! Open the door! It's I, Mercier.' Iheard footsteps. The door opened and Moncharmin appeared. He was verypale. He said, 'What do you want?' I answered, 'Some one has run awaywith Christine Daae.' What do you think he said? 'And a good job,too!' And he shut the door, after putting this in my hand."
Mercier opened his hand; Remy and Gabriel looked.
"The safety-pin!" cried Remy.
"Strange! Strange!" muttered Gabriel, who could not help shivering.
Suddenly a voice made them all three turn round.
"I beg your pardon, gentlemen. Could you tell me where Christine Daaeis?"
In spite of the seriousness of the circumstances, the absurdity of thequestion would have made them roar with laughter, if they had notcaught sight of a face so sorrow-stricken that they were at once seizedwith pity. It was the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny.