CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS NUMBER.
Spectre at a Carnival
(Continued from Page 143"
In an assembly, of fantasms such as I have painted, it may well be supposed that no ordin- ary appearance could have ex- cited 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 touch- ed 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- seemed 10W deeply to feel that in the costume and bearing of the stranger neither wit Búr pró- priety existed.
company, indeed,
The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habili ments of the grave. The mask which convealed the visage was made
so nearly to resemble the countenance of a stiffened corpse that the closest scrutiny must have had difficulty in de- tecting the cheat. And yet all this might have been endured, if not approved, by the mad re- yellers around. But the mum- mer had gone so far as to as-"- sume the type of the Red Death. His vesture was dabbled in blood and his broad brow, with all the features of the face.
WIN
besprinkled with 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 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 in- sult us with this blasphemous mockery! Seize him and un-. mask him that we may know whom we have to hang, at sun- rise, from the battlements!"
It was in the eastern or blue chamber in which stood the Prince Prospero as he uttered- these words. They rang through- out the seven rooms loudly and clearly, for the prince was bold and robust
nan, and the music had become hushed at the waving of his hand.
a
was a
It was in the blue room where stood the prince, with a group of pule courtiers by his side. At first, as he spoke, there slight rushing movement of this group in the direction of the in- truder, who at the inoment was al- so 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
By Edgar Allen Poe
Whole party. there were found none who put forth a hand to seize him; so that, nimpeded, he pass-“ ed within a yard of the prince's person; and,
while the vast assembly as
with one 'im- pulse, shrank front 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 to the white--and even thence to the violet. ere a decided movement had been made to ar-
• rest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, madden- in with rage and the shame of his
own momentary cowardice, rushed hurriedly through the six chambers while none followed him on account of a deadly terror that had seized upon all. 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, the velvet apartment, turned sud- Having attained the extremity of denly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry-and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterward, fell prostrate in death the Prince Prospero. Then, sum- moning the wild courage of de- at pnze, shrew themselves into the pair, a throny of the revellers black apartment, and, seizing the. mummer, whose tall figure stood
s
erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in nutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse- like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness untenanted by any tangible form.
And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. lers in the blood-bedewed halls of And one by one dropped the revel their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the guy
"And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness illimitable dominion over all. and Decay and the Red Death held
+3
THE END,
GLOOMY SHOW. « A dramatic performance given at a prison is reported I under- stand there was some disappoint- ment among the audience because the officials" did not open any bars.
*
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HA HA HA!
A local cricket-field modelled in butter is on show in Birming- ham. The fingers of some of the fieldsmen are said to look ex- tremely realistic.
Cause and Effect.
A South London woman of 107 has never ridden in a motor-car.. Which probably explains why she is-107.
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