but be prudent! When you hear the monster, warn us!" Then Christine gave way to fear.

She trembled lest Erik should discover where Raoul was hidden; she told us in a few hurried words that Erik had gone quite mad with love and that he had decided TO KILL EVERYBODY AND HIMSELF WITH EVERYBODY if she did not consent to become his wife.

He had given her till eleven o'clock the next evening for reflection.

It was the last respite.

She must choose, as he said, between the wedding mass and the requiem.
And Erik had then uttered a phrase which Christine did not quite understand: "Yes or no! If your answer is no, everybody will be dead AND BURIED!" But I understood the sentence perfectly, for it corresponded in a terrible manner with my own dreadful thought.
"Can you tell us where Erik is ?" I asked.
She replied that he must have left the house.
"Could you make sure ?" "No.