Before following the commissary into the manager's office I must
describe certain extraordinary occurrences that took place in that
office which Remy and Mercier had vainly tried to enter and into which
MM. Richard and Moncharmin had locked themselves with an object which
the reader does not yet know, but which it is my duty, as an historian,
to reveal without further postponement.
I have had occasion to say that the managers' mood had undergone a
disagreeable change for some time past and to convey the fact that this
change was due not only to the fall of the chandelier on the famous
night of the gala performance.
The reader must know that the ghost had calmly been paid his first
twenty thousand francs. Oh, there had been wailing and gnashing of
teeth, indeed! And yet the thing had happened as simply as could be.
One morning, the managers found on their table an envelope addressed to
"Monsieur O. G. (private)" and accompanied by a note from O. G. himself: The time has come to carry out the clause in the memorandum-book.
Please put twenty notes of a thousand francs each into this envelope,
seal it with your own seal and hand it to Mme. Giry, who will do what
is necessary.
The managers did not hesitate; without wasting time in asking how these
confounded communications came to be delivered in an office which they
were careful to keep locked, they seized this opportunity of laying
hands, on the mysterious blackmailer. And, after telling the whole
story, under the promise of secrecy, to Gabriel and Mercier, they put
the twenty thousand francs into the envelope and without asking for
explanations, handed it to Mme. Giry, who had been reinstated in her
functions. The box-keeper displayed no astonishment. I need hardly
say that she was well watched. She went straight to the ghost's box
and placed the precious envelope on the little shelf attached to the
ledge. The two managers, as well as Gabriel and Mercier, were hidden
in such a way that they did not lose sight of the envelope for a second
during the performance and even afterward, for, as the envelope had not
moved, those who watched it did not move either; and Mme. Giry went
away while the managers, Gabriel and Mercier were still there. At
last, they became tired of waiting and opened the envelope, after
ascertaining that the seals had not been broken.
At first sight, Richard and Moncharmin thought that the notes were
still there; but soon they perceived that they were not the same. The
twenty real notes were gone and had been replaced by twenty notes, of
the "Bank of St. Farce"![1] The managers' rage and fright were unmistakable. Moncharmin wanted to
send for the commissary of police, but Richard objected. He no doubt
had a plan, for he said: "Don't let us make ourselves ridiculous! All Paris would laugh at us.
O. G. has won the first game: we will win the second."