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.But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in thembeat feverishly the heart of life.And the revel went whirlingly on,until at length there commenced the sounding of midnight upon theclock.And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutionsof the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of allthings as before.But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded bythe bell of the clock; and thus it happened, perhaps, that more ofthought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of thethoughtful among those who revelled.And thus, too, it happened,perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterlysunk into silence, there were many individuals in the crowd who hadfound leisure to become aware of the presence of a masked figure whichhad arrested the attention of no single individual before.And therumor of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around,there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur,expressive of disapprobation and surprise --then, finally, ofterror, of horror, and of disgust.In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well besupposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited suchsensation.In truth the masquerade license of the night was nearlyunlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, andgone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum.There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot betouched without emotion.Even with the utterly lost, to whom lifeand death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can bemade.The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in thecostume and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor propriety existed.The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in thehabiliments of the grave.The mask which concealed the visage was madeso nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that theclosest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat.And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by themad revellers around.But the mummer had gone so far as to assumethe type of the Red Death.His vesture was dabbled in blood --andhis broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkledwith the scarlet horror.When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image(which with a slow and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustainits role, stalked to and fro among the waltzers) he was seen to beconvulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either ofterror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage."Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stoodnear him --"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seizehim and unmask him --that we may know whom we have to hang at sunrise,from the battlements!"It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the PrinceProspero as he uttered these words.They rang throughout the sevenrooms loudly and clearly --for the prince was a bold and robust man,and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group ofpale courtiers by his side.At first, as he spoke, there was aslight rushing movement of this group in the direction of theintruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, withdeliberate and stately step, made closer approach to the speaker.But from a certain nameless awe with which the mad assumptions ofthe mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who putforth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yardof the prince's person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with oneimpulse, shrank from the centres of the rooms to the walls, he madehis way uninterruptedly, but with the same solemn and measured stepwhich had distinguished him from the first, through the blue chamberto the purple --through the purple to the green --through the green tothe orange --through this again to the white --and even thence tothe violet, ere a decided movement had been made to arrest him.It wasthen, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and theshame of his own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the sixchambers, while none followed him on account of a deadly terror thathad seized upon all.He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached,in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreatingfigure, when the latter, having attained the extremity of the velvetapartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer.There was asharp cry --and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet,upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the PrinceProspero.Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of therevellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and,seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionlesswithin the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horrorat finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handledwith so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death.He hadcome like a thief in the night.And one by one dropped the revellersin the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in thedespairing posture of his fall.And the life of the ebony clock wentout with that of the last of the gay.And the flames of the tripodsexpired.And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitabledominion over all.The End [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]