The Masque of the Red Death Page #2

you do little

but eat and swill...

and dream of other things.

How like a pig you are.

Be one.

You, Senor Lampredi...

you laugh at

this poor pig...

while you are small

and insignificant...

no more than a worm.

Can you be a worm,

Lampredi?

Senorita Escobar...

do you hear

how she laughs?

It is like nothing so much

as a braying jackass.

Be one.

You, Senor Rimini,

ride that jackass to market.

Giddyap!

As for the rest of you,

use your imaginations.

Show me the lives

and loves of the animals.

See if we cannot

make something...

more exotic of her

that will appeal to me.

Francesca?

My father imprisoned

a friend of his...

in this room for 3 years.

When he was released...

he could never again

bear to look at the sun...

or even a daffodil.

How cruel.

Cruel?

It was simply a test...

to prove how easily

a man's mind...

can be controlled

and twisted.

My family have always

been interested...

in such things.

Somewhere in

the human mind...

my dear Francesca...

is the key

to our existence.

My ancestors

tried to find it...

to open the door

that separates us...

from our creator.

You need no doors

to find God.

If you believe...

Believe?

If you believe,

my dear Francesca,

you are gullible.

Can you look

around this world...

and believe in the goodness

of a god who rules it?

Famine, pestilence,

war, disease, and death...

they rule this world.

There is also love

and life and hope.

Very little hope,

I assure you.

No.

If a god of love and light

ever did exist...

he is long since dead.

Someone...

something...

rules in his place.

No.

No, that room

is not open to you.

Not yet.

What's in there?

You look as though...

Is there something

to fear in that room?

For the uninvited,

there is much to fear.

This has been

a trying day for you.

You must sleep.

You must sleep.

Tomorrow you may see

Gino and your father.

Prince Prospero.

Why do you roam

the late night corridors?

Sleep eludes me.

You have disturbing

thoughts?

And you, Juliana...

what keeps you awake?

I think my

thoughts dwell...

on the same subject

as you...

the peasant girl.

She has a perfect faith.

So do I...

in you and in

what you believe.

I've been an eager student,

but I've held back

from the final ceremony.

And now I'm ready to join you

at the invocation.

How truly realistic

women are.

Finally you

are ready to dare...

the most terrible

rites and incantations...

to secure your

position here.

I wonder...

I wonder if she

is ready to dare...

as much or anything

for the sake of love.

Did I startle you,

my dear?

Watch.

Do you know how a falcon

is trained, my dear?

Her eyes are sewn shut.

Blinded temporarily,

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