Midnight
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 roués , 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 . The awful things I saw , the fearful deeds that were perpetrated , would curdle your very blood with horror , were I to relate them .