out! ... I won't answer for anything."

Again he puffed and blew like a walrus.

"I won't answer for anything! ... If Erik's secrets cease to be Erik's
secrets, IT WILL BE A BAD LOOKOUT FOR A GOODLY NUMBER OF THE HUMAN
RACE! That's all I have to tell you, and unless you are a great booby,
it ought to be enough for you ... except that you don't know how to
take a hint."

He had sat down on the stern of his boat and was kicking his heels
against the planks, waiting to hear what I had to answer. I simply
said:

"It's not Erik that I'm after here!"

"Who then?"

"You know as well as I do: it's Christine Daae," I answered.

He retorted: "I have every right to see her in my own house. I am
loved for my own sake."

"That's not true," I said. "You have carried her off and are keeping
her locked up."

"Listen," he said. "Will you promise never to meddle with my affairs
again, if I prove to you that I am loved for my own sake?"

"Yes, I promise you," I replied, without hesitation, for I felt
convinced that for such a monster the proof was impossible.

"Well, then, it's quite simple ... Christine Daae shall leave this as
she pleases and come back again! ... Yes, come back again, because she
wishes ... come back of herself, because she loves me for myself! ..."

"Oh, I doubt if she will come back! ... But it is your duty to let her
go." "My duty, you great booby! ... It is my wish ... my wish to let
her go; and she will come back again ... for she loves me! ... All this
will end in a marriage ... a marriage at the Madeleine, you great
booby! Do you believe me now? When I tell you that my nuptial mass is
written ... wait till you hear the KYRIE..."

He beat time with his heels on the planks of the boat and sang:

"KYRIE! ... KYRIE! ... KYRIE ELEISON! ... Wait till you hear, wait till
you hear that mass."

"Look here," I said. "I shall believe you if I see Christine Daae come
out of the house on the lake and go back to it of her own accord."

"And you won't meddle any more in my affairs?"

"No."

"Very well, you shall see that to-night. Come to the masked ball.
Christine and I will go and have a look round. Then you can hide in
the lumber-room and you shall see Christine, who will have gone to her
dressing-room, delighted to come back by the Communists' road... And,
now, be off, for I must go and do some shopping!"

To my intense astonishment, things happened as he had announced.
Christine Daae