It was like a carnival of demons, but it was to be incited to a yet wilder pitch.

A singular figure, one of extraordinary ferocity, was suddenly projected into the midst of the whirling crowd, and a chant, shriller and fiercer, rose above all the others.

The figure was that of Queen Esther, like some monstrous creature out of a dim past, her great tomahawk stained with blood, her eyes bloodshot, and stains upon her shoulders.

Paul would have covered his eyes had his hands not been tied instead, he turned his head away.

He could not bear to see more.