【英文短篇小说】The Masque of the Red Death

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The "Red Death" had long devastated¹ the country. No pestilence² had ever been so fatal, or so hideous³. Blood was its Avatar and its seal --the redness and the horror of blood. There were sharp pains, and sudden dizziness, and then profuse⁴ bleeding at the pores, with dissolution. The scarlet⁵ 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. And the whole seizure⁶, progress and termination of the disease, were the incidents of half an hour.

 

But the Prince Prospero was happy and dauntless and sagacious. When his dominions⁸ were half depopulated, he summoned to his presence a thousand hale and light-hearted friends from among the knights⁹ and dames¹⁰ of his court, and with these retired¹¹ to the deep seclusion¹² of one of his castellated abbeys. This was an extensive and magnificent structure, the creation of the prince's own eccentric yet august taste. A strong and lofty wall girdled it in. This wall had gates of iron. The courtiers, having entered, brought furnaces and massy hammers and welded the bolts. They resolved to leave means neither of ingress or egress¹³ to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy¹⁴ from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance¹⁵ to contagion¹⁶. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly¹⁷ to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons¹⁸, there were improvisatori, there were ballet-dancers, there were musicians, there was Beauty, there was wine. All these and security were within. Without was the "Red Death."

 

It was toward the close of the fifth or sixth month of his seclusion, and while the pestilence raged most furiously abroad, that the Prince Prospero entertained his thousand friends at a masked ball of the most unusual magnificence.

 

It was a voluptuous²⁰ scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. There were seven --an imperial suite²¹. In many palaces, however, such suites²² form a long and straight vista²³, while the folding doors slide back nearly to the walls on either hand, so that the view of the whole extent is scarcely impeded²⁴. Here the case was very different; as might have been expected from the duke's love of the bizarre. The apartments were so irregularly disposed that the vision embraced but little more than one at a time. There was a sharp turn at every twenty or thirty yards, and at each turn a novel effect. To the right and left, in the middle of each wall, a tall and narrow Gothic window looked out upon a closed corridor which pursued the windings²⁵ of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose color varied²⁶ in accordance with the prevailing²⁷ hue²⁸ of the decorations of the chamber²⁹ into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity³⁰ was hung, for example, in blue --and vividly³¹ blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments³² and tapestries³³, and here the panes³⁴ were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements³⁵. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange --the fifth with white --the sixth with violet. The seventh apartment was closely shrouded³⁶ in black velvet³⁷ tapestries that hung all over the ceiling and down the walls, falling in heavy folds upon a carpet of the same material and hue. But in this chamber only, the color of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet --a deep blood color. Now in no one of the seven apartments was there any lamp or candelabrum, amid the profusion³⁸ of golden ornaments that lay scattered³⁹ to and fro or depended from the roof. There was no light of any kind emanating⁴⁰ from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers⁴¹. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire that protected its rays through the tinted⁴² glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy⁴³ and fantastic appearances. But in the western or black chamber the effect of the fire-light that streamed upon the dark hangings through the blood-tinted panes, was ghastly in the extreme, and produced so wild a look upon the countenances⁴⁵ of those who entered, that there were few of the company bold enough to set foot within its precincts at all.

 

It was in this apartment, also, that there stood against the western wall, a gigantic clock of ebony. Its pendulum⁴⁶ swung to and fro with a dull, heavy, monotonous⁴⁷ clang; and when the minute-hand made the circuit of the face, and the hour was to be stricken, there came from the brazen⁴⁸ lungs of the clock a sound which was clear and loud and deep and exceedingly musical, but of so peculiar⁴⁹ a note and emphasis that, at each lapse⁵⁰ of an hour, the musicians of the orchestra were constrained⁵¹ 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 aged¹⁹ and sedate⁵² passed their hands over their brows as if in confused reverie or meditation⁵³. But when the echoes had fully⁵⁴ ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded⁵⁵ the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows⁵⁶, each to the other, that the next chiming of the clock should produce in them no similar emotion; and then, after the lapse of sixty minutes, (which embrace three thousand and six hundred seconds of the Time that flies,) there came yet another chiming of the clock, and then were the same disconcert and tremulousness and meditation as before.

 

But, in spite of these things, it was a gay and magnificent revel⁵⁷. The tastes of the duke were peculiar. He had a fine eye for colors and effects. He disregarded the decora of mere⁵⁸ fashion. His plans were bold and fiery⁵⁹, and his conceptions glowed with barbaric lustre⁶⁰. There are some who would have thought him mad. His followers⁶¹ felt that he was not. It was necessary to hear and see and touch him to be sure that he was not.

 

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. Be sure they were grotesque⁶². There were much glare and glitter and piquancy⁶³ and phantasm --much of what has been since seen in "Hernani." There were arabesque⁶⁴ figures with unsuited limbs and appointments. There were delirious⁶⁵ fancies such as the madman fashions. There was much of the beautiful, much of the wanton, much of the bizarre, something of the terrible, and not a little of that which might have excited disgust. To and fro in the seven chambers there stalked, in fact, a multitude of dreams. 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, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away --they have endured but an instant --and a light, half-subdued laughter floats after them as they depart. And now again the music swells⁶⁷, and the dreams live, and writhe⁶⁶ to and fro more merrily than ever, taking hue from the many-tinted windows through which stream the rays from the tripods. But to the chamber which lies most westwardly⁶⁸ of the seven, there are now none of the maskers who venture; for the night is waning⁶⁹ away; and there flows a ruddier light through the blood-colored panes; and the blackness of the sable⁷⁰ drapery appals⁷¹; and to him whose foot falls upon the sable carpet, there comes from the near clock of ebony a muffled⁷² peal⁷³ more solemnly emphatic⁷⁴ than any which reaches their ears who indulge in the more remote gaieties of the other apartments.

 

But these other apartments were densely⁷⁵ crowded, and in them beat feverishly⁷⁶ 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 meditations⁷⁷ of the thoughtful among those who revelled⁷⁸. And thus, too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of the last chime had utterly⁷⁹ 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 rumor⁸⁰ of this new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur⁸¹, expressive⁸² 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 license⁸³ of the night was nearly unlimited⁸⁴; 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 propriety⁸⁵ existed. The figure was tall and gaunt, and shrouded from head to foot in the habiliments of the grave. The mask which concealed⁸⁶ the visage was made so nearly to resemble the countenance⁴⁴ of a stiffened⁸⁷ corpse⁸⁸ that the closest scrutiny⁸⁹ 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 dabbled⁹⁰ in blood --and his broad brow, with all the features of the face, was besprinkled with the scarlet horror.

 

When the eyes of Prince Prospero fell upon this spectral⁹¹ 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 shudder⁹² either of terror or distaste; but, in the next, his brow reddened with rage.

 

"Who dares?" he demanded hoarsely⁹³ of the courtiers who stood near him --"who dares insult us with this blasphemous⁹⁴ 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 robust⁹⁵ 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 spoke⁹⁶, 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 awe⁹⁷ with which the mad assumptions of the mummer had inspired the whole party, there were found none who put forth⁹⁸ 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 distinguished⁹⁹ 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 decided¹⁰⁰ movement had been made to arrest him. It was then, however, that the Prince Prospero, maddening with rage and the shame of his own momentary¹⁰¹ cowardice¹⁰², 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 drawn¹⁰³ dagger¹⁰⁴, and had approached, in rapid impetuosity, to within three or four feet of the retreating figure, when the latter, having attained¹⁰⁵ the extremity of the velvet apartment, turned suddenly and confronted his pursuer. There was a sharp cry --and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate¹⁰⁶ in death the Prince Prospero. Then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng¹⁰⁷ of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect¹⁰⁸ and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped¹⁰⁹ in unutterable horror at finding the grave-cerements and corpse-like mask which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible¹¹⁰ form.

 

And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture¹¹¹ of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion⁷ over all.

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