Page 11 - Phantom of the Opera

Chapter 1 Is It he Ghost?
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It was the evening on which Monsieur* Debienne and Monsieur
Poligny, the managers of the Opera, were giving a last
performance to mark their retirement. Suddenly, a half dozen
young ladies of the ballet were in the dressing room of La Sorelli,
one of the main dancers. Some were laughing unnaturally and
some were screaming in terror. Sorelli, who wished to be alone
for a moment to practice her speech to the departing managers,
looked around angrily at the noisy crowd. It was Jammes who
gave the explanation in a shaky voice: "It's the ghost!" And she
locked the door.
Sorelli was superstitious. When she heard this, she called the
fifteen-year-old Jammes a "silly little fool" but then asked for
details. "Have you seen him?"
"As clearly as I see you now!" said Jammes.
Then little Giry added, "He's very ugly!"
"Oh, yes!" cried the other girls.
They all began to talk together. The ghost had appeared to
them in the shape of a gentleman in fine clothes. He suddenly
stood in front of them in the passage and seemed to have come
straight through the wall.
"Oh, you see the ghost everywhere!" said one of them, who
had remained more sensible.
And it was true. For several months, all the discussion at the
Opera had been of this ghost in fine clothes who walked quietly
and slowly around the building. He spoke to nobody and nobody
dared speak to him. He disappeared as soon as he was seen. At
first, everybody laughed about him, but the story of the ghost

* Monsieur: the French word for Mr.

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