"I would be at your orders, mother, and you know with what happiness, did not a pressing and important affair require my absence this evening," said Réginard.
Rosédès sighed and gave Réginard leave to depart; but as soon as he had left, she summoned a domestic of confidence and ordered that he follow Réginard wherever he went that evening, and return to report on his whereabouts immediately.
Réginard encountered Château-Renard and they both entered Réginard's coupée. Having no reason to hide where he was going, he said out loud, "To the Opéra!"
Arrived at the Opéra du Shiré, Réginard wandered around the theatre hoping to encounter Monte Fato in a corridor or stairway. The bell called him to his place, and he installed himself between Château-Renard and Pierre-Jacques-Philippe-Michel Boyen-Xènes-Baguines.
His eyes did not leave the Count's loge for an instant, but the loge remained obstinately empty. The performance was a brilliant success. The chorus "Eh bien! Nous sommes les Manqués!" had rarely been better sung. But it was all wasted on Réginard, whose mind had but a single thought: vengeance. Not more darkened was the heart of Féanoir when he burnt the ships at Alqualondée than Réginard's was at that performance.
