In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may well besupposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited such sensation.In truth the masquerade licence of the night was nearly unlimited; but thefigure in question had out-Heroded Herod, and gone beyond the bounds ofeven the prince's indefinite decorum. There are chords in the hearts ofthe most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion. Even withthe utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are mattersof which no jest can be made. The whole company, indeed, seemed nowdeeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither witnor propriety existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded fromhead to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealedthe visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffenedcorpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in detecting thecheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by themad revellers around. But the mummer had gone so far as to assume thetype of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood--and hisbroad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with thescarlet 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 itsrole, 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 nearhim--"who dares insult us with this blasphemous mockery? Seize himand 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, andthe music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of palecourtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there was a slight rushingmovement of this group in the direction of the intruder, who at the