The Raven / The Masque of the Red Death / The Cask of Amontillado | Page 4

the rays from the tripods.
But to the chamber which lies most westwardly of the seven, there are now none of the
maskers who venture; for the night is waning away; and there flows a ruddier light
through the blood-coloured panes; and the blackness of the sable drapery appals; and to
him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a
muffled peal more solemnly emphatic than any which reaches their ears who indulged in
the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.
But these other apartments were densely crowded, and in them beat feverishly the heart
of life. And the revel went whirlingly on, until at length there commenced the sounding
of midnight upon the clock. And then the music ceased, as I have told; and the evolutions
of the waltzers were quieted; and there was an uneasy cessation of all things as before.
But now there were twelve strokes to be sounded by the bell of the clock; and thus it
happened, perhaps, that more of thought crept, with more of time, into the meditations of
the thoughtful among those who revelled. And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before
the last echoes of the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many
individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of the presence of a
masked figure which had arrested the
attention of no single individual before. And the
rumour 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, of terror, of horror, and of disgust.
In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may
well be supposed that no
ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation. In truth the masquerade licence
of the night was nearly unlimited; but the figure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and
gone beyond the bounds of even the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the
hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even with the
utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest
can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed now deeply to feel that in the costume
and bearing of the stranger neither wit nor
propriety existed. The figure was tall and
gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which
concealed the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened
corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting the cheat. And yet all
this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad revellers around. But the
mummer had gone so far as to assume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was
dabbled in blood--and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled
with the scarlet horror.
When the eyes of the Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral image (which, with a slow
and solemn movement, as if more fully to sustain its role, stalked to and fro among the
waltzers) he was seen to be convulsed, in the first moment with a strong shudder either of
terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.
"Who dares,"--he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him--"who dares
insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize him 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
Prince Prospero as he uttered
these words. They rang throughout the seven rooms 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 of pale courtiers by his side.
At first, as he spoke,
there was a slight rushing movement of this group in the direction
of the intruder, who at the moment was also near at hand, and now, with deliberate and
stately step, made closer approach to the speaker. But from a certain nameless awe with
which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were
found none who put forth hand to seize him; so that, unimpeded, he passed within a yard
of the prince's person; and, while the vast assembly, as if with one impulse, shrank from
the centres of the rooms to the walls, he made his way uninterruptedly, but with the same
solemn and measured step which had distinguished him from the first, through the blue
chamber to the purple--through the purple to the green--through the green to the
orange--through this again