pain and terror. When Red Death released him
at last, he ran away like a very madman, pursued by the jeers of the
bystanders.

It was at this moment that Raoul passed in front of the funereal
masquerader, who had just happened to turn in his direction. And he
nearly exclaimed:

"The death's head of Perros-Guirec!"

He had recognized him! ... He wanted to dart forward, forgetting
Christine; but the black domino, who also seemed a prey to some strange
excitement, caught him by the arm and dragged him from the crush-room,
far from the mad crowd through which Red Death was stalking...

The black domino kept on turning back and, apparently, on two occasions
saw something that startled her, for she hurried her pace and Raoul's
as though they were being pursued.

They went up two floors. Here, the stairs and corridors were almost
deserted. The black domino opened the door of a private box and
beckoned to the white domino to follow her. Then Christine, whom he
recognized by the sound of her voice, closed the door behind them and
warned him, in a whisper, to remain at the back of the box and on no
account to show himself. Raoul took off his mask. Christine kept hers
on. And, when Raoul was about to ask her to remove it, he was
surprised to see her put her ear to the partition and listen eagerly
for a sound outside. Then she opened the door ajar, looked out into
the corridor and, in a low voice, said:

"He must have gone up higher." Suddenly she exclaimed: "He is coming
down again!"

She tried to close the door, but Raoul prevented her; for he had seen,
on the top step of the staircase that led to the floor above, A RED
FOOT, followed by another ... and slowly, majestically, the whole
scarlet dress of Red Death met his eyes. And he once more saw the
death's head of Perros-Guirec.

"It's he!" he exclaimed. "This time, he shall not escape me! ..."

But Christian{sic} had slammed the door at the moment when Raoul was on
the point of rushing out. He tried to push her aside.

"Whom do you mean by 'he'?" she asked, in a changed voice. "Who shall
not escape you?"

Raoul tried to overcome the girl's resistance by force, but she
repelled him with a strength which he would not have suspected in her.
He understood, or thought he understood, and at once lost his temper.

"Who?" he repeated angrily. "Why, he, the man who hides behind that
hideous mask of death! ... The evil genius of the churchyard at Perros!
.