We shall see when he comes!" "And I tell you that you ought to go down to the organ at once." "Not before the commissary comes." "I've been down to the organ myself already." "Ah! And what did you see ?" "Well, I saw nobody! Do you hear--nobody!" "What do you want me to do down there for{sic} ?" "You're right!" said the stage-manager, frantically pushing his hands through his rebellious hair.

"You're right! But there might be some one at the organ who could tell us how the stage came to be suddenly darkened.

Now Mauclair is nowhere to be found.

Do you understand that ?" Mauclair was the gas-man, who dispensed day and night at will on the stage of the Opera.
"Mauclair is not to be found!" repeated Mercier, taken aback.

"Well, what about his assistants ?" "There's no Mauclair and no assistants! No one at the lights, I tell you! You can imagine," roared the stage-manager, "that that little girl must have been carried off by somebody else: she didn't run away by herself! It was a calculated stroke and we have to find out about it ...