Aha, M. le Vicomte de Chagny! So you maintain that Christine Daae was
carried off by an angel: an angel of the Opera, no doubt?"

"Yes, monsieur, by an angel of the Opera; and I will tell you where he
lives ... when we are alone."

"You are right, monsieur."

And the commissary of police, inviting Raoul to take a chair, cleared
the room of all the rest, excepting the managers.

Then Raoul spoke:

"M. le Commissaire, the angel is called Erik, he lives in the Opera and
he is the Angel of Music!"

"The Angel of Music! Really! That is very curious! ... The Angel of
Music!" 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."

M. Mifroid rose and looked at Raoul attentively.

"I beg your pardon, monsieur but is it your intention to make fun of
the law? And, if not, what is all this about the Opera ghost?"

"I say that these gentlemen have heard of him."

"Gentlemen, it appears that you know the Opera ghost?"

Richard rose, with the remaining hairs of his mustache in his hand.

"No, M. Commissary, no, we do not know him, but we wish that we did,
for this very evening he has robbed us of twenty-thousand francs!"

And Richard turned a terrible look on Moncharmin, which seemed to say:

"Give me back the twenty-thousand francs, or I'll tell the whole story."

Moncharmin understood what he meant, for, with a distracted gesture, he
said:

"Oh, tell everything and have done with it!"

As for Mifroid, he looked at the managers and at Raoul by turns and
wondered whether he had strayed into a lunatic asylum. He passed his
hand through his hair.

"A ghost," he said, "who, on the same evening, carries off an
opera-singer and steals twenty-thousand francs is a ghost who must have
his hands very full! If you don't mind, we will take the questions in
order. The singer first, the twenty-thousand francs after. Come, M.
de Chagny, let us try to talk seriously. You believe that Mlle.
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 Raou