zellephantom

{That tragic evening was bad for 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.}

Wait- was Carlotta actually sick, or did she just claim she was as an excuse to escape the public eye? (Also, if we're really doing a recap of the chandelier night, it might be good to mention that SOMEONE DIED. The supposedly 'vulgar' replacement for Mme. Giry, that is. No one replaces Madame Giry.)

{One afternoon he went to the managers' 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 a prey to some persistent sport of fate.}

Awww poor managers... :( Not feeling up to being their usual delightfully snarky selves.

{In their daily intercourse, they showed themselves very impatient, except with Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her functions.}

N̶̡̨͙̞̾̾̀̑̓͋O̸̳̥̦͋̈́̽͑̕ ̸̡̛̬̖̬͈̗͆̎̒̈́͝Ō̸̖̦͈̿̇͝ͅN̴̢̥̥̯̑̀̇͛͛̚Ę̷̙̰͎̉͝ ̶̛̮͓̪̼̃͐̕ͅR̶͓̖̗̪͖̿̀̕͝Ę̸̖̬̪̙͍̊P̸̡̨͕̭̻̂̿́̚͠L̵̡̧͕̩͕̃̉̒̚͜Ä̶̞͕̗́́̾̉C̵͇͚͚̤͒̒̑͆̅͘Ȩ̵̧̜͙̩͌̄S̶̥̔ ̴̪̜͕̤͍͗ͅM̴̮̈́͐̈́́̓A̶̭̼͓̣͈̚D̴̗̖̻̫͂͜A̸̢̙͛M̴̪̬͎͙̅͆̓̾̈́̕ͅE̵̥̫͇̻̞̾̽͌̆ͅ ̴̡̛̟̻̠͌Ǵ̶̪͇̩͔̽̍̆I̴̦͖̒͝R̵̡̻̟͚̋̆Y̵̦͐͋̉̀̋͠

{And their reception of the Vicomte de Chagny, when he came to ask about Christine, was anything but cordial. They merely told him that she was taking a holiday. He asked how long the holiday was for, and they replied curtly that it was for an unlimited period, as Mlle. Daae had requested leave of absence for reasons of health.

"Then she is ill!" he cried. "What is the matter with her?"

"We don't know."

...

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 letter, forbidding him to make any attempt 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. }

You're on the right track, Raoul!

{The girl's highly strung imagination, her affectionate and credulous mind, the primitive education which had surrounded her childhood with a circle of legends, the constant brooding over her dead father and, above all, the state of sublime ecstasy into which music threw her from the moment that this art was made manifest to her in certain exceptional conditions,}

Not everyone is rich and has access to a good education, Raoul. And some people take deaths harder than others! Your parents died and you have several siblings old enough to remember them- you should know that! Grief is hard and weird and everyone goes through it at their own pace.

Also since when is having a good imagination, being kind, and intensely enjoying one's art a bad thing??

{Of whom was Christine Daae the victim? }

She hasn't been murdered, Raoul!

{he rang at a little flat in the Rue Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. The door was opened by the maid whom he had seen coming out of Christine's dressing-room one evening.}

Oh, hey- it's that maid again! (I still want to know her name and background and what she thinks of the odd whimsicality of her employers.)

{Five minutes later, Raoul was ushered into an ill-lit room where he at once recognized the good, kind face of Christine's benefactress in the semi-darkness of an alcove. Mamma Valerius' hair was now quite white, but her eyes had grown no older; never, on the contrary, had their expression been so bright, so pure, so child-like.

"M. de Chagny!" she cried gaily, putting out both her hands to her visitor. "Ah, it's Heaven that sends you here! ... We can talk of HER."

This last sentence sounded very gloomily in the young man's ears.}

DO YOU STILL SERIOUSLY THINK SHE'S BEEN MURDERED, RAOUL???