There were 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.
There are chords in the hearts of the most reckless which cannot be touched without emotion.
The external world could take care of itself.
So violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form.
Even with the utterly lost, to whom life and death are equally jests, there are matters of which no jest can be made.
And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all.