He was so furious that I did not think, for the moment, of interrupting
him. After puffing and blowing like a walrus, he put his horrible
thought into words: "Yes, you must learn, once and for all--once and for all, I say--to
take a hint! I tell you that, with your recklessness--for you have
already been twice arrested by the shade in the felt hat, who did not
know what you were doing in the cellars and took you to the managers,
who looked upon you as an eccentric Persian interested in stage
mechanism and life behind the scenes: I know all about it, I was
there, in the office; you know I am everywhere--well, I tell you that,
with your recklessness, they will end by wondering what you are after
here ... and they will end by knowing that you are after Erik ... and
then they will be after Erik themselves and they will discover the
house on the lake ... If they do, it will be a bad lookout for you,
old chap, a bad lookout! ... 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..."