Page 93 - Phantom of the Opera

When I asked the Persian to tell me how Erik managed to Erik escaped to Constantinople, where he again built a great
take the money from Richard's pocket in spite of the safety pin, palace for the king there. Of course, he had to leave for the same
he reminded me that Erik was called "the trap door lover." He reason he left Persia; he knew too much. He went to Paris, where
told me to look in the managers' office, which I later did, and he worked on building houses, and on the Opera. He dreamed of
there lay the trap door under the manager's desk. creating a place unknown to the rest of the earth, where he could
The Persian's story, Christine Daae's papers, and the statements hide from men's eyes for all time.
made to me by people who worked under Richard and The reader knows and guesses the rest. Poor, unhappy Erik!
Moncharmin all helped me to make some important discoveries. Should we pity him? Should we curse him? I saw his skeleton the
I have not been able to find the house on the lake because Erik other day, when they took it from the spot where Christine had
blocked all the entrances. On the other hand, I discovered secret him buried. And what will they do with that skeleton? The best
passages, and the trap door that was used by the Persian and place for the skeleton of the Opera ghost is in the National
Raoul to enter the cellars. School of Music. It is no ordinary skeleton.
According to the Persian, Erik was born in France in a small
town near Rouen. He was born with a terrible face — no nose,
yellow eyes — that he had to hide. He ran away and joined a fair,
where he was shown to the public as the "the living dead." He
crossed all of Europe, from fair to fair, and completed his
education as an artist and magician with these traveling shows.
He sang beautifully, practiced ventriloquism, and performed
unbelievable tricks. When the Princess of Mazenderan in Persia
heard about him, she instructed the daroga to find him and bring
him to her.
His tricks were used for political murders and the king liked
him. Erik had very original ideas about architecture and he built
a palace full of trap doors and secret passages. The building was
the work of a genius. The king did not want anyone else to have
a palace like this, so he ordered that Erik and all the men who
worked for him be put to death. The daroga was told to do the
killing. Erik had once helped him, and the daroga repaid him by
providing him with an escape. A body was later found, and
because the king believed this to be Erik's, he did not have the
daroga murdered. But the daroga was sent out of Persia, and he
went to Paris.

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