Page 29 - Phantom of the Opera

the managers decided that they should inspect Box Five for violin and his daughter sang. One day a music teacher, Monsieur
themselves. Valerius, heard them and took them to Gothenburg. He thought
that the father was the best violinist in the world, and the
daughter had enormous talent. Valerius paid for her education
Chapter 3 The Angel of Music and she made rapid progress. She was charming, pretty, and eager
to please. When Monsieur Valerius and his wife moved to
Christine Daae did not immediately continue her triumph at the France, they took Daae and Christine with them. Madame
Opera. After that famous night, she sang only once. It seemed Valerius treated Christine as a daughter.
that she was no longer in control of her life. I believe Christine One summer, Daae took Christine to Perros-Guirec, in a
Daae was frightened by what had happened to her. I have a letter faraway corner of Brittany, for a week. He played his violin and
of hers from this period: "I don't know myself when I sing," she sang in the small towns. They slept at night in farm buildings
wrote the poor child. The viscount, Raoul Chagny, tried and they would not take any money for their music. People
unsuccessfully to see her. He wrote to her and desperately waited could not understand the behavior of this farmer with his pretty
for her reply. When it came, he read: child who sang like an angel from Heaven. But they followed
them from village to village.
Monsieur:
One day, a little boy was out for a walk on a stretch of golden
I have not forgotten the little boy who went into the sea to
beach. He followed the little girl whose pure, sweet voice seemed
rescue my scarf. I am going to Perros-Guirec, where my father is
to capture him. There was a high wind which blew Christine's
buried with his violin. You knew my father and he was very fond
of you. I will go to the graveyard of the little church where we used scarf out to sea. She cried out, but the scarf was already far away
to play as children. And where we said goodbye for the last time. on the waves. Then she heard a voice say: "It's all right, I'll go and
get your scarf out of the sea."
Viscount Chagny hurried to the train station. He read And she saw a little boy running fast. He brought it back and
Christine's note again and again, and remembered the sweetest Christine laughed and kissed him. That boy was Raoul Chagny,
days of his childhood. He questioned the train driver and learned who was staying at Lannion with his aunt.
that a young lady who looked like a Parisian had gone to Perros- That week, they played together every day. One day
Guirec the day before and was staying at the Setting Sun. As he Christine's father, who often told them stories, told them one
came nearer and nearer to her, he fondly remembered the story that began: "Little Lotte thought of everything and nothing.
of the Angel of Music. She loved her toys, her little red shoes, and her violin. But most
Christine Daae's father was a poor Scandinavian farmer, and a of all, she loved to hear the Angel of Music when she went
talented violinist. His wife died when Christine was only six, so to sleep."
he sold his farm and went to Uppsala, the nearest town, in search The Angel of Music was in all of Daddy Daae's stories. He
of fortune. But he found only poverty. always said that every great musician received a visit from the
He returned to the country, where he continued to play his Angel at least once in his life. If the Angel visits a small baby, that

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