Notes on Gaston Leroux‘s „The Phantom of the Opera“ - Bonus Chapter: „The Magic Envelope“
Inside Box Five at the Opéra Garnier
This „lost“ chapter was originally included in the „Le Gaulois“ serialization, but was cut when „The Phantom of the Opera“ was published as a novel. In the original order of chapters, it came between „At the Masked Ball“ and „You Must Forget the Name of ‚the Man‘s voice‘“, and while it is not essential to the plot, it adds some rather interesting details. It was translated by @fdelopera and is also available in full on her blog.
„The Magic envelope“ picks up after the chandelier accident, when Moncharmin and Richard find themselves forced to surrender to the Ghost‘s wishes. They are also very adamant about making it known that they had absolutely not witnessed anything out of the ordinary that fateful evening while they were sitting in Box 5. They also pay Carlotta a visit, finding her sick in bed and unable to recover, and have a thorough inspection conducted of the chandelier‘s means of suspension, which resulted inconclusive. Therefore, seeing themselves up against such a formidable adversary, they reinstate Madame Giry with an apology and decide to enter into negotiations with the O.G., thinking this the best way to get a hold of him. They no longer regard him as a harmless prankster, but instead a „crook of outrageous audacity“ (which is probably closer to the truth, since Erik is never afraid of making bold moves). On a side note, we also learn that Gabriel is the confidant of Richard, and Mercier is the confidant of Moncharmin.
Madame Giry resumes her duties without demonstrating any resentment towards the managers for the treatment she was given previously. Moncharmin hands her a letter for the Ghost, to be handed over to him that evening. She puts the letter into the basket she carries most of the time. Erik‘s reply is delivered the following day by the post office. Herein, he informs them that he will shortly send them more instructions regarding the payment of his salary, and informs them that Christine Daaé is unwell and in need of rest, and that they need not worry if they do not see her these days. Moncharmin remarks drily that the Phantom „has every appearance of ruining women‘s reputations“, but they chose not to investigate any further into this „mysterious relationship“.
On the morning of the masked ball, approximately 2 weeks later, Moncharmin and Richard both receive a private letter from the O.G., without knowing that the other has also received a letter. Erik instructs the recipient of each letter on how he will meet him at the ball that evening to discuss the payment of his monthly salary „without any risk, either to it or to me“. He also states that he has decided to confer only with him, flattering him as „a shrewd judge of character, and a person of the highest intellect, qualities that are greatly appreciated, and that I would be at pains to find in your unfortunate colleague“. Erik has a rather mischievous way of exploiting people‘s weaknesses - in this case, the vanity of Moncharmin and Richard - and using them against them, which is not charm.
Now, the most ingenious part of Erik’s plan is that he has sent the exact same letter to both managers, essentially pitting them against each other. He tells them that he will come to the ball dressed as a Capuchin friar, and asks both managers to come wearing the exact same costume. They are supposed to meet him shortly after midnight in the box located directly below the so-called „Box of the Blind“.
Christine casually refers to the „Box of the Blind“ in the previous chapter, but it is only explained here what the „Box of the Blind“ is. It‘s a spacious box in the top tier that offers no view at all, and is reserved for the institutions of the blind who come here to enjoy the music. This means that the box which Erik is sending the managers is located in the third tier.
The managers do exactly as they have been told and come to the appointment both dressed as monks with masks. They come face to face with each other, but since they are both in disguise, each believes that he is actually face to face with the Opera Ghost. Then Erik speaks (probably from the box above) and suggests they go to the office instead, and both managers think that they have heard the other speak. In the previous chapter „At the Masked Ball“, we have seen Christine and Raoul, who are also meeting in a third-tier box, observe Erik ascend and then descend the staircase. Without the context of the lost chapter, we are led to believe that Erik is coming after Raoul and Christine, but this chapter suggests that he is actually just going to his appointed meeting with the managers. This would also explain why, even though they can see him, he does not seem to take note of their presence. Considering how adamant Christine was about keeping Raoul from leaving the box, I also wonder if she was perhaps aware of Erik‘s plan and didn‘t want Raoul to interfere (Raoul feels that she wants to give the „Red Death“ time to escape, and Christine probably doesn‘t want him to endanger himself either).
Richard leaves the box first, thinking he is leading the way for the Ghost, while Moncharmin, who is following him, reflects on how familiar the Ghost is with the way to their office. Once they arrive in their office, they wait for the Ghost to speak, but they don’t hear any more from him. Richard loses his patience and speaks. Moncharmin immediately realizes how they have been played, and is convinced that Richard is pranking him. But as Richard is genuinely angry at being suspected, Moncharmin shows him the letter, and they both realize that they have received the same instructions from the Ghost. But Moncharmin still remains distrustful of Richard, which we also see in the later chapters.
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Suddenly, they hear three ghostly knocks, seemingly coming from inside the desk, and notice an envelope addressed to them in red ink lying there. Richard finally dares to open it, and the content shows that Erik has staged this little charade as a warning not to involve the police in the future, demonstrating that in case they had decided to call them, the police would have arrested the managers instead of the Ghost, which - according to Erik - would have been „quite entertaining“. Furthermore, he now gives them more precise instructions for the payment of his salary: the managers are to put 20 1,000 franc notes into the envelope (addressed to „Monsieur Fantôme de l‘Opéra“) that he has enclosed, seal it and then give it to Madame Giry half an hour before the next performance.
The next evening, Madame Giry is summoned to Richard‘s office. On her way to the backstage area, she comes across Meg playing a prank on a fireman, and slaps her face. This is the only scene where we see Meg Giry apart from the very beginning of the novel. Madame Giry is handed the rather thick envelope and puts it into the basket she carries around with her. Moncharmin asks her how she usually delivers the envelope, and she tells him that she just puts it in the Ghost‘s box. An important bit of information here is the time that Madame Giry has been in the service of the Ghost. The first letter she delivered was only a few days before the departure of Debienne and Poligny, the former managers. According to her, it was much thinner than this one, which is logical considering that they only paid the Ghost for the first 10 days of January, so only a third of the „regular“ salary. Therefore, far from having amassed riches during his time as the Opera Ghost, Erik had only collected one meagre payment of a little less than 7,000 francs until now (still a lot, but nowhere near a substantial fortune). It also shows that his reign as the „Opera Ghost“ was indeed very short-lived and most likely linked to his plans of marrying Christine and needing money for that.
Madame Giry leaves the managers‘ office, and Mercier is right on her heels. When she gets to Box 5, she takes the letter out of the basket and places it on the shelf. While she is inside Box 5, Mercier opens the basket to see what it contains. The contents are indeed interesting, at least for us readers. The translator, Caitlin Freeman aka @fdelopera, suggests that the items in the basket really belong to Erik and not to Madame Giry, and looking at the contents, it seems like this is indeed the Erik edition of „What‘s in your bag?“. Let‘s see what is in there:
A lace handkerchief embroidered with the interwoven initials „F. O.“
Since the monogram contains neither a „G“ or a „J“, it is not likely that it belongs to Madame Giry. The only character we know that would fit „F. O.“ is indeed le „F. de l’O.“, so it probably belongs to Erik. In the next chapter, we see Christine making lace at home in her free time, so it is apparently something that she likes to do. It is therefore possible that this handkerchief was made and given to Erik by Christine during the preceding two weeks that she stayed with him. She probably thought even Opera Ghosts need decent handkerchiefs.
A bunch of keys can really belong to anyone, so this is not very conclusive. Possibly Madame Giry‘s, since Erik can open „anything he pleases“ anyway.
A box of matches might also seem random, but in Chapter 3, it is mentioned that Erik‘s handwriting looks as if he had used matchsticks: „except that at the end a paragraph had been added in red ink, in strange, jagged handwriting that looked as if it might have been made with inked matchsticks.“
It is not really explained why he would use matchsticks instead of a regular pen, but there is definitely a connection.
A bit of small change, also inconclusive.
An „old edition of the Petit Journal, folded to the section of the serialized novel: The Vampire‘s Daughter“
Along with the handkerchief, probably the most suggestive item in the basket. The translator has researched the serialized novels in the Petit Journal during that period, and has found no serialized novel with that title. This means that Leroux invented this novel, and its title can easily be linked to Erik, who clearly has some vampiric references himself, what with sleeping in a coffin and generally looking a little dead. The mention of the Vampire’s daughter could also be an indication that Erik’s dream of a wife and a normal life also included the possibility of having children and becoming a real family. And it also means that Erik’s taste in literature might potentially lean more towards trashy vampire romances than Shakespeare - which somehow really fits Leroux Erik….
During the entire performance, Moncharmin and Richard avidly watch the envelope from the upper tier, and confirm that it has not moved an inch. After the performance they meet Mercier in Box 5, where they open the envelope and find the 20,000 francs still inside. But the bank notes they had placed in it weren‘t real - Moncharmin and Richard had put 20,000 francs in play money into the envelope and thus incurred Erik’s wrath. Therefore, when Moncharmin and Richard return to their office, they find a short note from him there. We are treated to hearing Erik curse here in a very special fashion - Freeman has aptly translated the original curse “Lustre et balustre!” as “candles and chandeliers!” The reference to the chandelier („lustre“) is an unveiled threat and reminder of the previous accident. He also lets them know that the “Bank of Saint Farce is not legal tender in my Empire”, making it the only time that Erik actually refers to his domain in the Opera as his “Empire”.
Richard is furious, and more so because he feels that Moncharmin still suspects him. He sends for Gabriel, his friend. In a private conversation, Richard recounts the whole affair to Gabriel and Mercier. Gabriel advises them to put the real 20,000 francs into the envelope, and not to involve the police.
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Moncharmin wants to know why Gabriel doesn’t want to involve the police, and Gabriel insists that if the Ghost is real, they can’t outsmart him, and if he is not, they will be ridiculed - so they can’t really win. Mercier suggests that a real Ghost would have no use for 20,000 francs, so if they use 20,000 francs as bait and the Ghost steals them, they will have proof that he is not a real Ghost. The four of them agree to keep watch over the envelope during the next performance two days later.
When Richard arrives in the managers’ office again half an hour before the performance, an envelope addressed to the “F. de l’O. - private” is awaiting him on the desk. Richard is fuming because he cannot figure out how the Ghost could get into the office despite the new security locks that they had put on the doors. After the other men have arrived, Richard puts 20,000 real francs into the Ghost‘s envelope, and hands it to Moncharmin, who brings it to Madame Giry. Madame Giry once again enters the box and leaves the envelope on the shelf. All four men avidly watch the envelope lying there innocently throughout the whole performance. When they retrieve the seemingly unopened envelope up again afterwards and open it, they think at first that they have outsmarted the Ghost, until Moncharmin turns pale and realizes that he is holding the play money instead of the real notes!
For the resolution of the magic trick, see Chapter 17.
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