What is the tone of the following excerpt from edgar allan poe’s "the masque of the red death"? there was a sharp cry—and the dagger dropped gleaming upon the sable carpet, upon which, instantly afterwards, fell prostrate in death the prince prospero. then, summoning the wild courage of despair, a throng of the revellers at once threw themselves into the black apartment, and, seizing the mummer, whose tall figure stood erect and motionless within the shadow of the ebony clock, gasped in unutterable horror at finding the grave cerements and corpse-like mask, which they handled with so violent a rudeness, untenanted by any tangible form. and now was acknowledged the presence of the red death. he had come like a thief in the night. and one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their revel, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. and the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. and the flames of the tripods expired. and darkness and decay and the red death held illimitable dominion over all.