by Pete Rawlik
She was uncomfortably close, and when I cleared my throat to gain her attention she stared at me with such a wild look in her eyes, such madness and fear, I was suddenly taken aback. I recognized her, a girl from Guernsey, a singer, or at least a student of the art. She was fluent in both English and French, and therefore had been useful to us in the past. Her name was Evelyn—it seemed to me most girls from Guernsey were named Evelyn—and she looked at me with a touch of madness in her eyes.
Her voiced cracked as she spoke. “Have you seen the prints?”
I stuttered out a puzzled, “I beg your pardon?”
There was a book in her hand, a folio of some kind. She offered it to me. “The prints, have you seen the sepia prints?” The book slipped from her fingers and tumbled to the ground, its contents, photographs, spilled out and scattered across the stones of the balcony, like dry leaves in a light breeze, falling to earth, but with no intent of staying there.
My eyes caught hers, and there was a tear. “The prints,” she whispered.
“Not to worry,” I said, kneeling down to gather up the images and the book itself. They were indeed sepia prints. As I crouched there by her feet I saw her weight shift. Her feet rose off from the ground. A shoe, black, shiny but scuffed, fell back down. I put out a hand to catch it and as I did rose up as well, offering the errant shoe to the young lady like some prize, as if I were a conquering knight.
She was gone.
I was alone.
I searched the balcony, but to no avail.
A puzzled word slipped through my lips. “Where?”
I stood there, a woman’s shoe in one hand, and half a dozen prints in the other. At my feet the folio blew open and more of the sepiatinted prints leaked out. I was staring at the space where she had been, where she no longer was, and could see nothing but the spot on the railing that had once been covered with a fine growth of ivy, which now was torn and broken.
Then I heard the screams from below, and with a casual glance saw what had caused them. Evelyn was there on the square below, her arms and legs at impossible angles. Her other shoe was rocking back and forth on the masonry like a ship tossed on the sea. Her head had caught the garden fence and had been impaled with such force that it had been torn from her body. It stared back up at me with wide open eyes; eyes that I swore were still filled with fear and madness.
I didn’t wait for the authorities. It would take time to deal with the local police, and they had no love for us Americans. They would have questions, but I had no answers. I didn’t really know the woman, barely knew her name, had barely spoken ten words to her—was it even ten words? They would want to take the book, the folio of prints, but it was the only clue I had, and I needed it. If I were to figure this thing out, I would have to start somewhere. The book was as good a place as any. I cannot even today say why I did this thing. I just did it. As I have said, I was searching for something to fulfill myself, and this girl’s death, or more importantly, understanding the impetus for her death, seemed to provide a taste of what I needed.
I gathered up the loose prints and the thin book that had once held them. I sprinted down the winding stairs, down the hall and out the back door. Leaving the alleyway, I slowed my pace and merged into the pedestrians who were moving along the street. The Mission had another house, a place several blocks away that we used to lodge dignitaries or visitors. I knew it was empty and made my way there, trying not to draw attention to myself as I weaved through the crowd.
In the safety of that anonymous townhouse I held the book and in the dim light examined it and tried to put it in order. It was bound in black leather, but that was faded in spots, frayed at the corners, broken in places along the spine. Traces of gold inlay revealed that there had been stamped letters on the cover once, but the majority of them had been worn away, leaving only a few specks of precious metal here and there. Even the letters themselves had nearly faded completely away. At first glance I thought that the repair of the book would take a significant amount of time, but I was mistaken. While the prints were all the same size, the stains and stray marks that rimmed the edges made matching each to the correct page much easier, and within hours the book was in order and intact once more, and I was able to examine it in its original state.
Investigations begin in odd ways, and no two are alike. The exact way to start is driven by the antecedent conditions, the style of those investigating, and the available clues. I only had two pathways to follow: I could investigate the woman, delve into her personal life and her work, or I could begin with the book. Reasoning that any conversation with family, friends, or coworkers would eventually be tied back to the book, I decided to begin there. It was, after all, already in my possession. It was perhaps the best place to start, and so I began my examination in earnest.
Though the letters on the cover were gone, the title page made it clear what the collection of photographs was. I did not even need to translate from French, for the title was repeated in English.
The King in Yellow
A Souvenir Collection of Images of the Cast
On the Occasion of its Premier
The Sixteenth of February, 1899
Palais Garnier
Paris, France
I knew the Palais Garnier by its more common name, the Paris Opera House, a magnificent edifice, a cornerstone of Parisian society, albeit one that was occasionally drenched in a little blood. Since the building had been completed there had been rumors that it was haunted, and these rumors came to a head in the early 1880s with the strange affair of the Opera Ghost. That phantom was not the only scandal that had befallen the opera house, for there were still rumors of strange figures haunting the halls, balconies, and alleyways of the edifice. Indeed, I recalled some mention of a fire that had taken the lives of an entire cast, and even some audience members.
Below the title there was a stamp in blue ink that identified the book as part of the collection of the Bibliothèque-Musée de l’Opéra, a library with which I was not familiar. I consulted a guide book and learned that the library-museum was attached to the Paris Opera House and served as an archive of both the opera house itself and of opera in general, holding thousands of scores and librettos, as well as costumes, props, and memorabilia of performances themselves. This book, it seemed, was part of their archive and documented a lavish performance that had occurred almost two decades earlier.
Lavish was an understatement.
The costuming was magnificently decadent and purposefully grotesque. I had heard stories concerning the Opera’s production of Don Juan Triumphant, but I could not imagine that it was any more extravagant or ostentatious than what was in these images. First, the set was intricately detailed, with great banners and glass chandeliers hanging in the background, while the foreground was reminiscent of the art deco style of designer Erte. There was hedonism rampant in every set piece, and through it all ran a hypnotic triple spiral motif that drew the eye and threatened to make me dizzy. That design, which was a kind of triskelion but only in the most abstract sense, continued into the costumes for each character. It could be found in the lace that trimmed the gowns of the twins Cassilda and Camilla, and in the crown of the regent Uoht, and his wife Cordelia’s headdress. Aldones’s spectacles were three-lobed, and Thale’s staff bore a triple spiral. It could even be seen in the pale cloak of the Phantom of Truth, and the bindings that held together the Pallid Mask. Only The Stranger seemed to be without any influence from the weird design, and this served to set him apart from the others, to make him an outsider amongst a society of the strange.
Each character was photographed in two costumes, one in a kind of formal attire, and then again in a kind of masquerade, each with its own mask, one simple, one ornate. Heavy makeup had been applied to all the actors which suggested that beneath their masks they were all horrifically scarred. The only exception to this was The Stranger, who had one simple costume and appeared to have only one mask, or perhaps none at all.
As
I progressed through the images I began to develop a strange idea, a suspicion really, one that was confirmed with a single ensemble photograph. For each character there were two actors, one in common costume, and the other in fancy masquerade. The resemblance between actors playing the same part was astounding—indeed I suspected that some of them were twins or at least siblings—but there were subtle differences. There was a facial mole in one photo that was absent in another. One actor for Uoht had very different earlobes than the other. The actor playing the fancy Aldones was missing the tip of his left index finger. The girls playing the twins Cassilda and Camilla were no doubt sisters, or perhaps cousins, but certainly part of the same family.
All except The Stranger, of course—he seemed to be played by just one actor.
But then there in the photograph I saw something that suggested that my conclusion was mistaken. There was in that ensemble photograph of the entire cast in costume a plethora of arms. One arm too many to be precise, it was off to the left, and nearly hidden behind the cloak of one of the Phantoms, but it was there. It was right where it should have been if one were to balance out The Stranger on the far side of the photo. An errant arm existed, one belonging to an actor who had been cropped out.
I flipped through the pages more carefully this time and sure enough I found suggestions of him throughout the other images: a shadow figure in the background, a hand that didn’t belong, and a boot that seemed out of place. It was then and only then that I realized I was missing a page. It had been excised, I could see where the leaf had been cut, and the line was smooth and tight to the binding. I had seen other books, rare manuscripts that had been vandalized, and those looked similar to this. Whoever had done this not only wanted to take the images, which could have been done by simply taking the prints, but to erase all trace of their existence and hide what had been done.
Reviewing the images and the death of Evelyn must have had a profound impact on me, for that night my dreams were invaded by the wildest of images. I was sitting on a stage, surrounded by the set from the images. The actors, or more precisely the characters from the prints, were walking around me, and seemed to be engaged in some great undertaking on my behalf, though what it was exactly was unclear. Aldones, the dwarf, seemed to relish what was going on, dancing around me to some strange staccato beat. The twins used me as a maypole, effectively binding me to the chair with ribbons. The giant Thale brought me coffee in an ornate silver cup, but when he saw I couldn’t drink it, my hands being bound by the girls, he sighed and lamented about what he would have to do with the pie he had made.
It was the actions of Cordelia which most disturbed me. She paced nervously, gnashed her teeth, and clenched her fists as she did so. That she wanted to tell me something was obvious, for she started toward me on more than one occasion, but then seemed to think better of it and turned away. The Phantom of Truth, a gauzy thing with only the hint of a face, haunted her. It had eyes with which to see and ears with which to hear, but no mouth with which to speak.
If the phantom haunted Cordelia, then The Stranger stalked her, or perhaps he stalked the whole family. He lurked in the background, moving amongst the shadowed curtains. He had the run of the stage, and would disappear from one spot and then suddenly appear in another. These actions were most disconcerting to Cordelia and Uoht, but for the twins Camilla and Cassilda it seemed more of a kind of game. The two girls screamed, but then as they ran their screams turned to giggles, which caused Thale to frown.
Eventually, in a sudden rush, Cordelia overcame her hesitancy and ran to my side. It was only then I realized that I was wearing the Pallid Mask. She looked into my eyes, grabbed me by the shoulders, and brought her face up next to mine. I could smell the rosewater that she used as a perfume, and the sequins on her own mask nearly blinded me with their scintillating reflections.
Her breath was hot in my ear and her voice was panicked as she whispered softly and desperately the same words Evelyn had said to me before she killed herself. “Have you seen the sepia prints?”
I woke in a cold sweat, my heart pounding in my chest.
The next day I made my way through the crowds to the Bibliothèque-Musée de l’Opéra, which was on the western side of the theater. I carried with me the folio, secured inside a leather satchel. From the outside the library was impressive, a kind of pavilion that was attached to and mirrored the design of the main structure. However, as impressive was the exterior, the interior was ghastly, for it was not only poorly lit, in a manner that only libraries seem to manage and the French have taken to an art form, but also unwelcoming. It was cramped: great shelves and cases lined the walls and extended up beyond the lamps into the darkness. There seemed to be a plethora of spaces at which one could work, but these were covered in manuscripts, papers, and dust. As far as I could tell there were no other patrons. The library was empty save for me and the man behind the great reception desk.
He was old, perhaps an octogenarian, bent with age, smartly dressed, and by all evidence a well-educated man. He asked me if I needed assistance. His request was odd in that it came in English, and he laughed at my obvious surprise. “You Americans think that you look like us, or at least the British. You don’t. Your clothes are cut differently. You’re overfed. You walk oddly. You stand differently. You may look like us, but you aren’t us, and we can see that.”
I smiled at his candor and recalled how I talked the same way about European women. “I was hoping you could tell me about this?” I opened up my satchel, took out the folio, and handed it to him.
“Young man, I am Moncharmin, I am the curator here. If I cannot help you, no one can.” He flipped through it, and though he did his best to conceal it, I could see that he was genuinely thrilled to be handling the object. He paused at the title page and made a hissing noise, presumably at the stamp that identified it as property of the library. This was followed by a disappointing Tsk, when he almost immediately saw the missing pages. With a flourish he closed the book and raised his eyes to mine. “Where did you get this?”
“A girl I knew had it,” I said. “A girl named Evelyn. She killed herself yesterday. The book, the photographs, seemed important to her.”
The old librarian nodded. “I knew Evelyn, a girl of some talent vocally. She came here often to read, and study the archives. I am sorry to hear that she is dead. Though given what she had been studying, her death is not surprising.”
“Why do you say that?”
He closed his eyes and pursed his lips, obviously mulling over how much he was willing to tell me, if anything. “Please. You will follow me.”
He stood up and pushed his way past me. I don’t know why I followed him, but as he moved through the door and down the hall I seemed to have no choice. The old man had mesmerized me. Through the stacks we went, winding through the shelves and cabinets of books and papers. There was a door, a thick wooden thing with clasps of black iron. He unlocked it with a thick brass key that he pulled from his vest pocket. Beyond, in the flickering light, there were stairs leading down into the depths of the basement of the opera house. Great stones formed the walls and the steps, and the only signs that anybody had been down here in decades were the electric lines and lights that had been strung up using hooks pounded into the masonry gaps. As we descended he spoke, and I listened.
“Those were dark days. 1898 was a bad year for the Opera, for all of Paris, but for the Opera in particular. The excesses and scandals of the Third Republic had culminated in the Dreyfus Affair and public sentiment had slowly turned away from supporting the arts and literature. The Opera and its managers did things, and allowed things to happen that were not made public. The Opera was used for unsavory productions.”
“Like this play, The King in Yellow?
He nodded slowly. “You must remember that this was just three years after Jarry’s Ubo Roi, an exercise in what he would later call pataphysics, the study of the laws of exceptions and the universe supplementary to our own. It was nonsense
, of course, a first step into the absurdism and surrealism. The crowd on that first night, they rioted. There was a man, a poet of some renown in the crowd who wrote, ‘After this what more is possible? After this, do we bow to the Savage God?’ The authorities banned the play and Jarry had to flee Paris.”
We were descending deeper. “The King in Yellow made Ubo Roi look tame. The authorities, the censors of the Third Republic, banned it before it was ever performed. They ordered all copies of the text destroyed.”
“Then these photos were of a production that never happened.”
“I wish it were so.” There was shame in his voice. “It was a private production, rehearsed and staged in secret. None of our regular performers would participate. We recruited players of ambiguous morals. They were easy to find. Zidler was dead, and his successors at the Moulin Rouge had no use for freaks and deviants. Once Toulouse-Lautrec would have been their voice, but he had gone mad and been confined to a sanitarium, and with him had gone any hope of reason or human compassion. Do you think it odd that I consider that little syphilitic dwarf as the voice of reason, as the voice of morality?”
“There have been stranger sources of laws.” I had not missed that he had inserted himself into the story.
“As you say. We were decadents, willing to do whatever in the name of pleasure, in the name of art. It was not the first time such ideas had played out in this theatre. We all knew the stories, the legends; concerning the chandelier, and the Phantom. We wanted to bring some of that madness, some of that grand theater, that gothic majesty back to life; to challenge the Parisian authorities with a morbid spectacle; to show them all what they should truly be fearful of.”