"But tell me, Erik, why did you call that room the torture-chamber?" "Oh, it's very simple. First of all, what did you see?" "I saw a forest." "And what is in a forest?" "Trees." "And what is in a tree?" "Birds." "Did you see any birds?" "No, I did not see any birds." "Well, what did you see? Think! You saw branches And what are the
branches?" asked the terrible voice. "THERE'S A GIBBET! That is why I
call my wood the torture-chamber! ... You see, it's all a joke. I
never express myself like other people. But I am very tired of it! ... I'm sick and tired of having a forest and a torture-chamber in my house
and of living like a mountebank, in a house with a false bottom! ... I'm tired of it! I want to have a nice, quiet flat, with ordinary
doors and windows and a wife inside it, like anybody else! A wife whom
I could love and take out on Sundays and keep amused on week-days ... Here, shall I show you some card-tricks? That will help us to pass a
few minutes, while waiting for eleven o'clock to-morrow evening ...  My
dear little Christine! ... Are you listening to me? ... Tell me you
love me! ...  No, you don't love me ... but no matter, you will! ...
Once, you could not look at my mask because you knew what was behind...
And now you don't mind looking at it and you forget what is behind! ...
One can get used to everything ... if one wishes... Plenty of young
people who did not care for each other before marriage have adored each
other since! Oh, I don't know what I am talking about! But you would
have lots of fun with me. For instance, I am the greatest
ventriloquist that ever lived, I am the first ventriloquist in the
world! ... You're laughing ...  Perhaps you don't believe me? Listen." The wretch, who really was the first ventriloquist in the world, was
only trying to divert the child's attention from the torture-chamber;
but it was a stupid scheme, for Christine thought of nothing but us! She repeatedly besought him, in the gentlest tones which she could
assume:

"Put out the light in the little window! ... Erik, do put out the light
in the little window!" For she saw that this light, which appeared so suddenly and of which
the monster had spoken in so threatening a voice, must mean something
terrible. One thing must have pacified her for a moment; and that was
seeing the two of us, behind the wall, in the midst of that resplendent
light, alive and well. But she would certainly have felt much easier
if the light had been put out. Meantime, the other had already begun to play the ventriloquist. He
said:

"Here, I raise my mask a little ...  Oh, only a little! ...  You see my
lips, such lips as I have? They're not moving! ... My mouth is
closed--such mouth as I have--and yet you hear my voice... Where will
you have it? In your left ear? In your right ear? In the table? In
those little ebony boxes on the mantelpiece? ... Listen, dear, it's in
the little box on the right of the mantelpiece: what does it say? 'SHALL I TURN THE SCORPION?' ... And now, crack! What does it say in
the little box on the left? 'SHALL I TURN THE GRASSHOPPER?' ... And
now, crack! Here it is in the little leather bag ...  What does it
say? 'I AM THE LITTLE BAG OF LIFE AND DEATH!' ...  And now, crack! It
is in Carlotta's throat, in Carlotta's golden throat, in Carlotta's
crystal throat, as I live! What does it say? It says, 'It's I, Mr.
Toad, it's I singing! I FEEL WITHOUT ALARM--CO-ACK--WITH ITS MELODY
ENWIND ME--CO-ACK!' ...  And now, crack! It is on a chair in the
ghost's box and it says, 'MADAME CARLOTTA IS SINGING TO-NIGHT TO BRING
THE CHANDELIER DOWN!' ... And now, crack! Aha! Where is Erik's voice
now? Listen, Christine, darling! Listen! It is behind the door of
the torture-chamber! Listen! It's myself in the torture-chamber! And
what do I say? I say, 'Woe to them that have a nose, a real nose, and
come to look round the torture-chamber! Aha, aha, aha!'" Oh, the ventriloquist's terrible voice! It was everywhere, everywhere. It passed through the little invisible window, through the walls. It
ran around us, between us. Erik was there, speaking to us! We made a
movement as though to fling ourselves upon him. But, already, swifter,
more fleeting than the voice of the echo, Erik's voice had leaped back
behind the wall! Soon we heard nothing more at all, for this is what happened:

"Erik! Erik!" said Christine's voice. "You tire me with your voice. Don't go on, Erik! Isn't it very hot here?" "Oh, yes," replied Erik's voice, "the heat is unendurable!" "But what does this mean? ... The wall is really getting quite hot! ... The wall is burning!" "I'll tell you, Christine, dear:  it is because of the forest next
door." "Well, what has that to do with it? The forest?" "WHY, DIDN'T YOU SEE THAT IT WAS AN AFRICAN FOREST?" And the monster laughed so loudly and hideously that we could no longer
distinguish Christine's supplicating cries! The Vicomte de Chagny
shouted and banged against the walls like a madman. I could not
restrain him. But we heard nothing except the monster's laughter, and
the monster himself can have heard nothing else. And then there was
the sound of a body falling on the floor and being dragged along and a
door slammed and then nothing, nothing more around us save the
scorching silence of the south in the heart of a tropical forest! Chapter XXIV  "Barrels! ... Barrels! ... Any Barrels to Sell?" THE PERSIAN'S NARRATIVE CONTINUED

I have said that the room in which M. le Vicomte de Chagny and I were
imprisoned was a regular hexagon, lined entirely with mirrors. Plenty
of these rooms have been seen since, mainly at exhibitions: they are
called "palaces of illusion," or some such name. But the invention
belongs entirely to Erik, who built the first room of this kind under
my eyes, at the time of the rosy hours of Mazenderan. A decorative
object, such as a column, for instance, was placed in one of the
corners and immediately produced a hall of a thousand columns; for,
thanks to the mirrors, the real room was multiplied by six hexagonal
rooms, each of which, in its turn, was multiplied indefinitely. But
the little sultana soon tired of this infantile illusion, whereupon
Erik altered his invention into a "torture-chamber." For the
architectural motive placed in one corner, he substituted an iron tree. This tree, with its painted leaves, was absolutely true to life and was
made of iron so as to resist all the attacks of the "patient" who was
locked into the torture-chamber. We shall see how the scene thus
obtained was twice altered instantaneously into two successive other
scenes, by means of the automatic rotation of the drums or rollers in
the corners. These were divided into three sections, fitting into the
angles of the mirrors and each supporting a decorative scheme that came
into sight as the roller revolved upon its axis.