Note: Translated by Teixeira de Mattos Excerpt from "The Phantom of the Opera" ("Prologue" less two last paragraphs) in Teixeira de Mattos translation. Peter Haining (editor), in "Acknowledgements" to "the Real Opera Ghost and Other Tales" claims that the story has been "newly translated by Alexander Peters for Fantasy Book (1969) and reprinted by permission of B. P. Singer Features Inc." Given that 1) at the time of publication de Matantos' translation was the only one 2) the excerpt is the very first pages of the book and 3) Haining's middle name is Alexander it's probably an example of his humor.