es
Voisins.

1846. La Sota, a dancer, married a brother of the King of Spain.

1847. Lola Montes, a dancer, became the morganatic wife of King Louis
of Bavaria and was created Countess of Landsfeld.

1848. Mlle. Maria, a dancer, became Baronne d'Herneville.

1870. Theresa Hessier, a dancer, married Dom Fernando, brother to the
King of Portugal.

Richard and Moncharmin listened to the old woman, who, as she proceeded
with the enumeration of these glorious nuptials, swelled out, took
courage and, at last, in a voice bursting with pride, flung out the
last sentence of the prophetic letter:

1885. Meg Giry, Empress!

Exhausted by this supreme effort, the box-keeper fell into a chair,
saying:

"Gentlemen, the letter was signed, 'Opera Ghost.' I had heard much of
the ghost, but only half believed in him. From the day when he
declared that my little Meg, the flesh of my flesh, the fruit of my
womb, would be empress, I believed in him altogether."

And really it was not necessary to make a long study of Mme. Giry's
excited features to understand what could be got out of that fine
intellect with the two words "ghost" and "empress."

But who pulled the strings of that extraordinary puppet? That was the
question.

"You have never seen him; he speaks to you and you believe all he
says?" asked Moncharmin.

"Yes. To begin with, I owe it to him that my little Meg was promoted
to be the leader of a row. I said to the ghost, 'If she is to be
empress in 1885, there is no time to lose; she must become a leader at
once.' He said, 'Look upon it as done.' And he had only a word to say
to M. Poligny and the thing was done."

"So you see that M. Poligny saw him!"

"No, not any more than I did; but he heard him. The ghost said a word
in his ear, you know, on the evening when he left Box Five, looking so
dreadfully pale."

Moncharmin heaved a sigh. "What a business!" he groaned.

"Ah!" said Mme. Giry. "I always thought there were secrets between the
ghost and M. Poligny. Anything that the ghost asked M. Poligny to do
M. Poligny did. M. Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing."

"You hear, Richard: Poligny could refuse the ghost nothing."

"Yes, yes, I hear!" said Richard. "M. Poligny is a friend of the
ghost; and, as Mme. Giry is a friend of M. Poligny, there we are! ...
But I don't care a hang about M. Poligny," he added roughly. "The only
person whose fate really interests me is Mme. Giry... Mme. Gir