The masked stranger began walking slowly towards the Prince
as he said this. Everybody — even the brave Prince Prospero — was
suddenly afraid. Nobody was brave enough to put out a hand to
stop the visitor. He passed very close to the Prince, and everybody,
everywhere, stepped back against the walls as he walked
slowly out of the blue room and into the purple, through the
green into the orange, into the white, into the yellow .. .
Suddenly, Prince Prospero was angry with himself for being
so stupidly afraid. He ran after the stranger. He ran through the
six rooms — but nobody followed him.
Pulling out his knife, he ran into the black room. The masked
man, who was walking towards the opposite corner, stopped.
The Prince stopped, a yard from him. The masked man turned
suddenly, and a terrible, cutting cry was heard. The Prince's
shining knife fell without a sound on the black floor. The Prince
fell without a sound next to it. Dead.
Suddenly — and nobody knew why — suddenly, the dancers
were no longer afraid. A crowd of them ran into the black room.
They ran to the stranger who was standing in the shadow of the
great clock. When they caught him, the mask and the empty
clothes fell to the floor. Everyone cried out in horror. There was
nobody inside the clothes! There was nobody there. The man's
body was nothing but air.
Everyone understood that the Red Death was now among
them. He came like a thief in the night. And as the seconds
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