It was a queer whim; but that crooked slug was always
taking such odd notions into his head, which nobody there dared
laugh at. The band were bound together by a terrible oath, women
and all; but they had to take another oath then, that of
allegiance to me.
"It quite turned my brain at first; and my eyes were so dazzled
by the pitiful glistening of the pageant, the sham splendor of
the sham court, and the half-mocking, half-serious homage paid
me, that I could see nothing beyond the shining surface, and the
blackness, and corruption, and horror within, were altogether
lost upon me. This feeling increased when, as months and months
went by, they were added to the mock peers of the Midnight Court,
real nobles from that of St. Charles. I did not know then that
they were ruined gamesters, vicious profligates, and desperate
broken-down roues, who would have gone to pandemonium itself,
nightly, for the mad license and lawless excesses they could
indulge in here to their heart's content. But I got tired of it
all, after a time: my eyes began slowly to open, and my heart -
at least, what little of that article I ever had - turned sick
with horror within me at what I had done.
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