No
pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous.

There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse bleeding at the pores, with
dissolution.

The scarlet stains upon the body and especially upon the face of the victim, were the pest
ban which shut him out from the aid and from the sympathy of his fellow-men.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and
dauntless and sagacious.

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and
sagacious.

When his dominions were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand
hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights and dames of his court, and with these retired to the deep seclusion of one of his castellated abbeys.

This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet
august taste.

They resolved to leave means neither of
ingress or egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within.

They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or
egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within.

With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to
contagion.

There were
buffoons, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine.

In many palaces, however, such suites form a long and straight
vista, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded.

These windows were of stained glass whose color varied in accordance with the prevailing
hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened.

The seventh apartment was closely
shrouded in black velvet tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue.

Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the
profusion of golden ornaments that lay scattered to and fro or depended from the roof.

Its
pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical,

Its pendulum swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the
brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical,

there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each
lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound;

there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were
constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to hearken to the sound;

there came from the brazen lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar a note and emphasis that, at each lapse of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained to pause, momentarily, in their performance, to
hearken to the sound;

and thus the waltzers perforce ceased their evolutions; and there was a brief
disconcert of the whole gay company; and, while the chimes of the clock yet rang, it was observed that the giddiest grew pale, and the more aged and sedate passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation.

But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once
pervaded the assembly;

He had directed, in great part, the moveable
embellishments of the seven chambers, upon occasion of this great fete; and it was his own guiding taste which had given character to the masqueraders.

And these--the dreams--
writhed in and about, taking hue from the rooms, and causing the wild music of the orchestra to seem as the echo of their steps.

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 indulge in the more remote
gaieties of the other apartments.

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.

And the rumor 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 truth the masquerade license 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.

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.

"Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely of the courtiers who stood near him--"who dares insult us with this
blasphemous mockery?

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.

He bore aloft a drawn dagger, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having
attained the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer.

And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held
illimitable dominion over all.