Why Raoul is so devastated by Christine's carriage ride

[igenlode]

One of the things fans like to cite from Leroux (in addition to 'Raoul cries all the time, he's a real baby!') in order to 'prove' that Raoul is a bad choice for Christine is the fact that he supposedly decides that she must be having a steamy affair with another man based on nothing more than seeing a glimpse of her in a carriage window one night.

What they don't mention is where he sees her, and why he is so reluctant to believe Count Philippe on the subject in the first place. Christine has been spotted with an unknown man after dark in a carriage dawdling behind the stands at the Longchamps racecourse, which was, at this period, a notorious 'lovers' lane'.

Basically, anyone seen driving round aimlessly there after dark wouldn't have been doing it for the scenery. It was a place you went for activities you didn't want to be seen.

So when poor Raoul discovers that his lady-love has apparently been seen canoodling there in a closed carriage, he's horrified...