Part of Melmoth the Wanderer, book 2
First published 2006
Castanier stands in a theater box, but he sees more than the comedy on stage. Visions reveal the truth about his life on the Rue Richer. His servant Jenny chats with Sergeant Leon, who calls Castanier an old toad and boasts of loving Aquilina. The sergeant plans to marry Mme. de la Garde and hides among Aquilina's gowns when the master returns home. Castanier watches himself bid farewell to his mistress, who weeps false tears while mocking him to Jenny. She laughs at his back even as she speaks tender words to his face. The mysterious Englishman Melmoth laughs beside him in the theater, a sound that bores through Castanier's skull like red hot iron. While the audience roars at Perlet's comic performance as an Englishwoman, Castanier sees only his own humiliation. The visions shift again, showing him fleeing the Rue Richer, hailing a cab, and bargaining for passage to Versailles. Each revelation strips away another layer of his illusions about love and loyalty.
Genres: fantasy, horror, 19th-century, gothic
Vibes: dark, emotional, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator, visions
Setting: Rue Richer, Versailles
Period: 19th Century
116 pages · Paperback · Read How You Want