up the aisle , driven by acolyte demons in tunics of red and lace sleeves trimmed in red and gold , there came a poor wretched sampling of the lost ones of the coop , shuffling old women , drunken men and little boys , mere children , clinging to the very demons who escorted them to their deaths , like piteous victims of some horrid old trial where the offspring of the condemned are led to execution with their parents .