With a turn of the wrist, Erik tightened the noose round his adversary's neck and, in this fashion, dragged him before the little sultana and her women, who sat looking from a window and applauding.

The little sultana herself learned to wield the Punjab lasso and killed several of her women and even of the friends who visited her.

But I prefer to drop this terrible subject of the rosy hours of Mazenderan.

I have mentioned it only to explain why, on arriving with the Vicomte de Chagny in the cellars of the Opera, I was bound to protect my companion against the ever-threatening danger of death by strangling.

My pistols could serve no purpose, for Erik was not likely to show himself; but Erik could always strangle us.