Christine knew she must decide without delay whether to turn the grasshopper or the scorpion. Erik's maniacal chattering and the knowledge that Raoul and the Persian were being scorched alive in the torture chamber, however, did nothing to calm her nerves. She was standing trembling over the two caskets with the bronze figures of a scorpion or a grasshopper in each of them. Her hand reached for the grasshopper—why not, she thought, why not end the agony for her and everyone else.

"That's right, turn the grasshopper and see it hop!" chortled Erik.

"Erik, if you love me please don't keep saying things like that. It's hard enough to decide as it is."

"Anything to please my dear little Christine," he purred, and left the room.

An agonizing moment of delay.

"Erik, I have turned the scorpion!"