Book excerpt: On sabbatical in Rome, Dr. Richmond meets the volatile genius of the opera, Erik Costanzi. The chance to study the connections between madness and genius seem to converge in the exaggerated stories of Costanzi's eccentric life. Although Meg agrees to permit Dr. Richmond to treat Erik, she has no idea that the physician intends to take him out of the country to an undisclosed location to study him for an indeterminate period of time. Taken by force from his home, believing that Meg has betrayed him, Erik is compelled to reveal his past as the Phantom of the Opera. How can he forgive Meg's complicity with the man who makes him face his darkest night?