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After the disaster① at the Opera House, Christine disappeared once again. She no longer performed, and Raoul did not know where she was. Then, late one evening, he was walking home when he heard a carriage coming towards him in the darkness.

He turned to look, and he saw Christine inside. She was sitting with her head against the window. Raoul rushed forward and shouted her name.

'Christine!'

Suddenly he heard a man's voice inside the carriage. The man gave a quick command, and the carriage moved away quickly.

Raoul looked sadly at the carriage as it moved down the street. He was now convinced that Christine was in love with another man. He went home in despair.

The next morning Raoul's valet② came to him with a letter.

Dear,

The day after tomorrow there is a masked ball at the Opera. Go there, and wear a white domino③. I will meet you at midnight.

Christine

All at once Raoul's hope came back to him. He read the letter excitedly, and he made his decision while he was reading.

'I'll go,' he thought. 'I'll go to the ball!'

Raoul tried to think clearly before the ball. Who was this mysterious Angel of Music? Was Christine in love with him? Or was she his prisoner? He could not be sure what to believe, and he suffered terribly④ because he doubted⑤ Christine.

The masked ball at the Opera was a grand affair. The whole of Paris society⑥ was there. Raoul arrived just before midnight.

Almost as soon as he entered the building a masked figure in black came up to him. The figure touched his hand and made a signal⑦ with its head. It was Christine! Then the figure moved away quickly through the crowd. Raoul followed.

His doubts had gone now. He was happy to be with Christine again, and he was in love. He believed in her completely.

As they moved through the crowded rooms, Raoul noticed a group of people standing around a large man. The man was dressed in red. He was wearing an enormous hat, and his mask was a skull.

He wore a large red cloak with some words written on it: 'Do not touch me! I am Red Death!' The people around him were admiring his costume⑧. Somebody in the crowd around the man stepped forward and tried to touch him. A skeleton hand jumped out of the cloak and took hold of the woman's hand. The woman screamed in terror, and ran away from Red Death.

Christine came to the end of the hall, and started to go up the stairs. Raoul followed her into one of the boxes.

Christine put her ear to the wall and began to listen intently⑨.

'It's all right,' she said quickly. 'He doesn't know where we are.'

The door of the box was open, and Raoul looked over Christine's shoulder into the corridor. He could see a man in a red cloak coming down the corridor. It was Red Death.

'He's out there!' Raoul cried, and he moved towards the door.

Christine threw herself in front of him and blocked the way.

'Who?' she asked him.

'Red Death,' Raoul answered. 'Your friend, your Angel of Music. I'm going out there. I'm going to take off his mask. I want to see his face!'

'No!' Christine cried in horror. 'If you love me, don't do it.'

Raoul stood still. All his doubts came rushing back to him.

She wanted to help the mysterious man to escape. Suddenly he was angry with her, angrier than he had ever been in his whole life.

'You love him, don't you?' he cried. 'Go to him, then, I won't stop you. But you have treated me badly, Christine. I hate you.'

Christine looked sadly at him.

'One day you'll understand,' she said softly. 'I have to go now. Please don't follow me.'

Christine walked out of the box and went down the corridor.

Raoul left the box a few minutes later, and walked downstairs to the hall. The ball was still in progress, but he did not want to take part in the fun.

He walked miserably around the Opera House for a while, then he went to Christine's dressing room. He knocked softly on the door, but there was no reply. He pushed the door open and went in. Suddenly he heard a noise in the corridor outside. He went into the inner room and hid himself.

The door of the outer room opened and Christine came in.

She took off her black gloves. Raoul noticed that she was wearing a gold ring on one of her fingers.

'A wedding-ring,' he said to himself. 'What does that mean? Who gave it to her?'

Now Christine took off her mask and sat at the table. She put her head in her hands and sighed⑩ deeply.

'Poor Erik,' she said. 'Poor Erik!'

'Erik,' Raoul thought. 'Who is this Erik? And why is Christine sorry for him?'

Christine sat very still. She seemed to be listening. Raoul listened as well. Then he heard something faintly⑪ ... the sound of singing. It was coming from the walls. The singing grew stronger. He could hear a voice, a man's voice. Now the voice was very clear. It seemed to be inside the room where Christine was. Raoul looked, but there was no one except the girl in the room.

Christine stood up. She was smiling happily now. 'Erik!' she cried softly. 'You're late.'

The voice continued singing. Raoul had never heard such beautiful singing before. It was singing 'The Wedding-night Song' from Romeo and Juliet. The voice sang passionately⑫.

Raoul began to understand how Christine had made such progress in her own singing — the voice he was listening to was very beautiful.

Christine walked to the back of the room. There was a large mirror on the wall, and she walked towards it.

Raoul followed her. Suddenly he felt a cold wind, and the room began to spin⑬ round. He saw two, four, eight images of Christine flying around in front of him. He tried to touch one of them, but there was nothing there. Then Christine disappeared — and he stood alone in the dressing room.

旺

财

旺

福

Words

① disaster：灾难。

② valet：贴身男仆。

③ white domino：连帽斗篷。

④ terribly：极度地。

⑤ doubted：怀疑。

⑥ society：上流社会。

⑦ signal：信号。

⑧ costume：装束。

⑨ intently：专心地。

⑩ sighed：叹气。

⑪ faintly：隐隐约约。

⑫ passionately：充满激情的。

⑬ spin：旋转。

一把短刀，怎么就让他连捅18人？！

黄晓菁，这位杭州泰隆银行女员工自爆视频火了，带给我们那些思考？

这一刻，快乐被具象化了

女高管与男下属上班约会开房，男方妻子闹到单位！被开除后她辩称：一直保持0.46-1.22米“个人距离”

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