登陆注册
5456800000001

第1章

The "Red Death" had long devastated the country. No pestilence had ever been so fatal, or so hideous. Blood was its Avatar and its seal--the redness and the horror of blood. 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.

And the whole seizure, 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 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. 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 nor egress to the sudden impulses of despair or of frenzy from within. The abbey was amply provisioned. With such precautions the courtiers might bid defiance to contagion. The external world could take care of itself. In the meantime it was folly to grieve, or to think. The prince had provided all the appliances of pleasure. There were buffoons, 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 towards 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 voluptuous scene, that masquerade. But first let me tell of the rooms in which it was held. These were seven--an imperial suite. 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. 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 windings of the suite. These windows were of stained glass whose colour varied in accordance with the prevailing hue of the decorations of the chamber into which it opened. That at the eastern extremity was hung, for example in blue--and vividly blue were its windows. The second chamber was purple in its ornaments and tapestries, and here the panes were purple. The third was green throughout, and so were the casements. The fourth was furnished and lighted with orange--the fifth with white--the sixth with violet. 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. But in this chamber only, the colour of the windows failed to correspond with the decorations. The panes here were scarlet--a deep blood colour. 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. There was no light of any kind emanating from lamp or candle within the suite of chambers. But in the corridors that followed the suite, there stood, opposite to each window, a heavy tripod, bearing a brazier of fire, that projected its rays through the tinted glass and so glaringly illumined the room. And thus were produced a multitude of gaudy 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 countenances 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 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, 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 harken 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 revery or meditation. But when the echoes had fully ceased, a light laughter at once pervaded the assembly; the musicians looked at each other and smiled as if at their own nervousness and folly, and made whispering vows, 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.

同类推荐
  • 法华十罗刹法

    法华十罗刹法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 云松巢集

    云松巢集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 读书说

    读书说

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 华岳寺

    华岳寺

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 上清外国放品青童内文

    上清外国放品青童内文

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 荣耀使命

    荣耀使命

    这是一款游戏,但是在游戏一开始系统便给玩家们设定了看似不可能完成的任务。这也是一个世界,生活在这里的NPC们的生活在新年的第一日发生了天翻地覆的变化。这更是一场战争,一场不知正义在何方的战争。
  • 重生之暗恋成宠

    重生之暗恋成宠

    秦悦从未想过,有朝一日她的世界会突然崩塌。最尊敬的爸爸,竟然外遇多年;最亲近的小姨竟然就是第三者;最爱的妈妈,因为受不了背叛和打击,崩溃自杀;而未婚夫,选择了在这个时候落井下石,解除婚约……一夜之间,所有的灾难都降临在了她的头上。人生最绝望的时候,只有幼时的竹马韩韬伸出了援手。然而最终,她还是没能逃脱死亡的命运……有幸重来一世,秦悦决定,她要好好守护妈妈,要让亏欠妈妈的人付出代价,更要竭力偿还前世欠下韩韬的债!
  • 女同志

    女同志

    大学中文系毕业想留校的万丽没能留校,与男友康季平分手,因为恰恰是康季平占了唯一的留校名额。随后,万丽参加了公务员考试,进入市妇联宣传科当了一名干部。这位年轻漂亮有才华的女大学生从踏进机关的第一天开始,就陷入了一座围城。面对剧烈残酷的“进步”竞争,万丽在良心与升职、进步与反叛、正直与卑鄙之间不停地做出协调和选择,跌爬滚打,尝尽个中滋味,几度升降,慢慢从科员到副科长、科长、市旧城改造指挥部副总指挥,一直做到区长、市属房产公司老总,小说结尾时她终于成为了副市长候选人。
  • 信丰中学

    信丰中学

    一个倒霉的初中老师,刚开始他觉得自己特别倒霉。一年后,他觉得自己特别幸运,因为他遇到了…她。
  • 星战之最强步兵

    星战之最强步兵

    新书《娱乐圈餐饮指南》已经上传,需要各位的支持,如果有推荐票之类的,请投到那边去,星空拜谢~游戏中的顶级机械科学专家穿越了到了一个与游戏世界完全相同的现实世界中的一个底层步兵身上于是,宇宙最强步兵诞生了步兵之王?哥们要打十个!王牌机甲驾驶员?哥们不仅机甲比你开的好,研发的机甲更领先你们几十年!顶级元素操控者?哥们刚好造了几款元素系武器,冰火雷电随便挑,碾压你们几条街!这,就是一个低级步兵,一步步走上宇宙巅峰的故事
  • 尸魂学院

    尸魂学院

    原本以为考上好的大学,苏子澈的生活会平淡度过,却未曾想到自己上的竟然是闹鬼学院,一场招魂游戏打开尘封已久的秘密,光鲜亮丽的外表下是深不见底的黑暗,灵异事件不断在自己身边发生,而自己的好朋友也接连受难,这一切似乎冥冥中注定,面对不再平静的一切,自己该如何应对下一秒的未知。
  • 半步豪门

    半步豪门

    【第1部《豪门蜕变》】她是校花一枚,本想在大学里好好学习、天天向上,但是无端的绑架、陷害、欺诈、车祸,让她受尽折磨和欺辱。巧遇痴情富豪不计血本讨好于她,怎奈各种货色的争风吃醋和好友的背叛出卖,再加上腹黑富豪的变态纠缠,让她忍无可忍,那又何必再忍,尔等三围发达头脑简单的货色岂是她的对手,苦尽甘来之时,她却发现自己竟然一直生活在巨大的阴谋和谎言之中。
  • 猫武士:红月狂潮1

    猫武士:红月狂潮1

    农历八月十五是猫族的传统节日圣石秋祭,十三个猫族部落汇集于圣石地,所有的猫都充满了期待与憧憬。然而,一系列的麻烦却在这时接踵而至:猫王国的大巫师离奇失踪,神秘黑猫带来可怕的预言,骨老族的秘技猫凶灵现身行凶……一直被巫师们视为灾难象征的红月再次出现,一个关于猫王国将发生巨变的预言悄悄流传。一切真的会像传言中所说的那样吗?
  • 结了婚的那些年

    结了婚的那些年

    原书名《结婚十年-枕边人》普通版:结婚的时候他给了一千块,和一辆自行车。正常版:就是两个医生的故事。这篇文说明一下,大概的模式是一张现在,一张过去,也就是单号也单号是相连的,双号和双号是相连的!!!这狗血的简介啊,依然不会写,我自己觉得爱情是游戏,是一见钟情,是最美丽的相遇,是邂逅,作品标签上面有六个选择,看了好半天然后才发现,我似乎和他们都没有多大的关系,请把它当成一个故事来看,万千人海就是你一个。*想你时你在天边想你时你在眼前想你时你在脑海想你时你在心田配乐:哭砂-张杰首长儿媳:**大婶之作:朱砂曲:**处女座囄婚:*伤情之作:毒婚:家长里短之一痒婚:灰姑娘和白马孽婚之门当户对:能作男女:兽婚*好友之作:炎儿,豪门重生一鸡飞狗跳:俺家大月月:酷王爷遇上穿越妃:*景行-首领小夫人:*七儿:上校夫人:在移动手机阅读平台上使用的名称为《结婚十年:老公,我爱你!》
  • 美男不争宠

    美男不争宠

    夙景然:冷魅妖娆夜梓辰:奸猾嚣张君默颜:冷静睿智舒亦月:温柔如水……(以下省略N美男)本文美男多多!喜欢看美男的亲们,千万不要错过……★☆●☆★在女仆店打工的现代女大学生沐青衣,因在打工回家的路上被店里的客人围攻调戏,意外穿越,为了生存,突发奇想,居然大胆在古代开起了女仆店,期间莫名成为了隐藏在诸国背后,拥有最大权势的暗夜之国的帝位继承人,随即流连在众国之间,只为了寻找出最合适的帝后人选,方能正式继承王位,寻后之路,美男环绕,战火蔓延,意外的相逢,缘分的邂逅,到底谁才是谁的归属……