The Phantom of the Opera - Chapter 10: "Forget the Name of the Man's Voice!"

Julie G. (United Kingdom)
Words from Gaston Leroux's novel "The Phantom of the Opera" (English translation by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos, 1911).

[The maker of this vocabulary list would like to add that although this is the best-known and most widely available English translation of Leroux's novel, it is in fact an abridged version, despite some publishers' claims to the contrary. It is, however, in the public domain, and has a very nice style to it. Personally, I recommend either Lowell Bair's or Mireille Ribiere's translations if you're looking for the full text in English.]
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. imposture
    pretending to be another person
    ...YOUR ECSTASY! And that is what makes me alarmed on your behalf. You are under a very dangerous spell. And yet it seems that you are aware of the imposture, because you say to-day THAT THERE IS NO ANGEL OF MUSIC! In that case, Christine, why did you follow him that time? Why did you stand up, with radiant...
  2. exasperation
    actions that cause great irritation
    "What I chose," said Christine, driven to exasperation.
  3. adorable
    lovable especially in a childlike or naive way
    If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all.
  4. unravel
    become or cause to become undone by separating the fibers of
    ...you...and I have been your friend too long not to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, at a disastrous adventure which will remain dangerous so long as we have not unraveled its threads and of which you will certainly end by being the victim, Christine."
  5. desist
    stop performing some action
    "I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!"
  6. reassure
    cause to feel confident
    "You must tell me everything, Christine! Why did you try to reassure me? And what danger is it, M. de Chagny?"
  7. promise
    a verbal commitment agreeing to do something in the future
    "Mamma, I have promised to explain everything to you one of these days; and I hope to do so but you have promised me, until that day, to be silent and to ask me no more questions whatever!"
  8. entice
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    "When a man," continued Raoul, "adopts such romantic methods to entice a young girl's affections. .."
  9. fascinated
    having your attention fixated as though witchcraft
    ...stand up, with radiant features, as though you were really hearing angels?...Ah, it is a very dangerous voice, Christine, for I myself, when I heard it, was so much fascinated by it that you vanished before my eyes without my seeing which way you passed! Christine, Christine, in the name of Heaven, in the name of your father who...
  10. mantle
    a sleeveless garment like a cloak but shorter
    "Mamma!" the girl broke in promptly, while a deep blush mantled to her eyes.
  11. meddle
    intrude in other people's affairs or business
    "I beg your pardon for speaking as I did, mademoiselle. You know the good intentions that make me meddle, just now, in matters which, you no doubt think, have nothing to do with me. But allow me to tell you what I have seen--and I have seen more than you suspect, Christine--or what I thought I saw, for, to tell you the truth, I have sometimes been inclined to doubt the evidence of my eyes."
  12. weird
    strikingly odd or unusual
    If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all.
  13. heroine
    the main good female character in a work of fiction
    If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all.
  14. stammer
    speak haltingly
    She turned as white as a sheet and stammered: "Who told you?"
  15. fathom
    a linear unit of measurement for water depth
    "Raoul," she said, "forget THE MAN'S VOICE and do not even remember its name. .. You must never try to fathom the mystery of THE MAN'S VOICE."
  16. implore
    beg or request earnestly and urgently
    "Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow.
  17. knit
    make by needlework with interlacing yarn
    Christine herself was seated by the bedside of the old lady, who was sitting up against the pillows, knitting.
  18. husband
    a male partner in a marriage
    "I am mistress of my own actions, M. de Chagny: you have no right to control them, and I will beg you to desist henceforth. As to what I have done during the last fortnight, there is only one man in the world who has the right to demand an account of me: my husband! Well, I have no husband and I never mean to marry!"
  19. melancholy
    a constitutional tendency to be gloomy and depressed
    If the veil of melancholy over those adorable features had not still appeared to the young man as the last trace of the weird drama in whose toils that mysterious child was struggling, he could have believed that Christine was not its heroine at all.
  20. torture
    infliction of suffering to punish or obtain information
    "Christine! As you have no husband, that ring can only have been given by one who hopes to make you his wife! Why deceive us further? Why torture me still more? That ring is a promise; and that promise has been accepted!"
  21. fatal
    bringing death
    ...to see you here so soon. I should be the first to delight at your return, if you were not so bent on preserving a secrecy that may be fatal to you...and I have been your friend too long not to be alarmed, with Mme. Valerius, at a disastrous adventure which will remain dangerous so long as we have...
  22. widow
    a woman whose husband is dead, especially if not remarried
    "Then tell me that you will never leave me again," implored the widow.
  23. ward
    a person who is under the protection of another
    Thereupon, seeing the hostility with which her ward had addressed the viscount, Mamma Valerius suddenly took Christine's part.
Created on Tue Sep 15 16:31:09 EDT 2015

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