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[00:35.53]CHAPTER 1 THE DANCERS
[00:39.74]'Quick！Quick！Close the door！It's him！'
[00:45.77]Annie Sorelli ran into the dressing－room，
[00:48.92]her face white．
[00:49.78]One of the girls ran and closed the door，
[00:54.69]and then they all turned to Annie Sorelli．
[00:58.23]'Who？Where？What's the matter？' they cried．
[01:03.92]'It's the ghost！'Annie said．'In the passage．
[01:09.26]I saw him．He came through the wall in front of me! And…
[01:15.64]and I saw his face！'
[01:19.45]Most of the girls were afraid，
[01:21.89]but one of them，
[01:23.09]a tall girl with black hair，laughed．
[01:26.09]'Pooh!'she said．'
[01:29.50]Everybody says they see the Opera ghost，
[01:32.65]but there isn't really a ghost．
[01:35.66]You saw a shadow on the wall．'
[01:39.02]But she did not open the door，
[01:42.34]or look into the passage.
[01:45.47]'Lots of people see him，'
[01:48.22]a second girl said．'
[01:50.21]Joseph Buquet saw him two days ago.
[01:53.30]Don't you remember？'
[01:56.00]Then all the girls began to talk at once．
[01:59.86]'Joseph says the ghost is tall
[02:02.57]and he wears a black evening coat．'
[02:06.45]'He has the head of a dead man，
[02:08.47]with a yellow face and no nose…'
[02:12.23]'…And no eyes-only black holes！'
[02:16.64]Then little Meg Giry spoke for the first time．
[02:21.89]'Don't talk about him．
[02:24.19]He doesn't like it．My mother told me．'
[02:28.76]'Your mother？' the girl with black hair said．
[02:33.19]'What does your mother know about the ghost？'
[02:38.11]'She says that Joseph Buquet is a fool．
[02:41.55]The ghost doesn't like people talking about him，
[02:45.03]and one day Joseph Buquet is going to be sorry，
[02:49.34]very sorry．'
[02:51.72]'But what does your mother know？
[02:54.42]Tell us，tell us！' all the girls cried．
[03:00.68]'Oh dear！'said Meg．
[03:04.05]'But please don't say a word to any one．
[03:08.26]You know my mother is the doorkeeper
[03:11.22]for some of the boxes in the Opera House．
[03:14.10]Well，Box 5 is the ghost's box！
[03:19.22]He watches the operas from that box，
[03:22.63]and sometimes he leaves flowers for my mother！
[03:27.50]'The ghost has a box！
[03:29.91]And leaves flowers in it！'
[03:33.53]'Oh， Meg，your mother's telling you stories！
[03:37.25]How can the ghost have a box？'
[03:40.16]'It's true， it's true，I tell you！'
[03:44.01]Meg said．'Nobody buys tickets for Box 5，
[03:48.46]but the ghost always comes to it on opera nights．'
[03:52.85]'So somebody does come there？'
[03:56.30]'Why，no！… The ghost comes，
[03:59.64]but there is nobody there．'
[04:03.56]The dancers looked at Meg．
[04:06.64]'But how does your mother know？'
[04:09.83]one of them asked．
[04:12.06]'There's no man in a black evening coat，
[04:15.30]with a yellow face．That's all wrong．
[04:20.10]My mother never sees the ghost in Box 5，
[04:23.75]but she hears him！ He talks to her，
[04:28.79]but there is nobody there！
[04:31.33]And he doesn't like people talking about him！'
[04:36.89]But that evening the dancers
[04:39.52]could not stop talking about the Opera ghost．
[04:43.19]They talked before the opera，
[04:45.31]all through the opera, and after the opera．
[04:49.93]But they talked very quietly，
[04:52.82]and they looked behind them before they spoke．
[04:57.64]When the opera finished，
[05:00.28]the girls went back to their dressing-room．
[05:03.23]Suddenly，they heard somebody in the passage，
[05:06.93]and Madame Giry， Meg's mother，
[05:09.36]ran into the room．
[05:11.55]She was a fat，motherly woman，
[05:14.03]with a red，happy face．
[05:16.52]But tonight her face was white．
[05:20.43]'Oh girls，'she cried'．
[05:23.78]'Joseph Buquet is dead！
[05:27.33]You know he walks a long way down，
[05:29.87]on the fourth floor under the stage．
[05:32.99]The other stage workers found his dead body
[05:35.76]there an hour ago -with a rope around his neck！'
[05:41.18]'It's the ghost!'cried Meg Giry．
[05:44.80]'The ghost killed him！'