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=_221._= CHIMING OF THE CLOCK.
... 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 color of the windows failed to correspond with the
decorations. The panes here were scarlet--a deep blood color. 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.
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