Ihr be sure, D would ha pilturn, eted ternal pon a ined. leave the interior blank that , at Vienna once, did me an the perso nafed ch is So, as I knew he would feel some curiosity in regard to the identity of which I told him, quite good-humouredly, that I should remem- Blank sheet the words- well acquainted with my MS., and I just copied into the middle of the who had outwitted him, I thought it a pity not to give him a clue. they are to be found in Crébillon's 'Atrée.'"3 S'il n'est digne d'Atrée, est digne de Thyeste! a th nich r to and "_Un dessein si funeste, ce, ite 1844 W- le d The Cask of Amontillado t the thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when herentured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature d my soul, will not suppose, however, that I gave utterance to a threat. At length I would be avenged; this was a point definitively settled-but the y definitiveness with which it was resolved precluded the idea of risk. I very must not avenger wrong only punish but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed hen retribution overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortu- nato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile in 2. From Virgil's Aeneid, book 6: “The descent to diernus (Hell) is easy, 1 Angelica Catalani (1780–1849), Italian singer. "Dreadful monstrosity” (Virgil's epithet for brother Atreus, the king of Mycenae; in revenge Atreus murders the three sons of Thyestes and cooks them up to serve to their father at a feast. The quotation reads: "So baneful a scheme, / if not worthy of Atreus, is worthy of Thyestes” (French). 1. The text is that of the first publication, in Godey's Magazine and Lady's Book 33 (November 1846). book 3 of the Aeneid). Polyphemus, the one-eyed man-eating giant, in 3. Prosper Jolyot de Crébillon (1674-1762) wrote Arée et Thyeste (1707), in which the Greek mytho- pical figure Thyestes seduces the wife of his THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO 786 1 EDGAR ALLAN POE 7.87 his immolation. upon his con- There were no Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm; and putting on a mask of black silk and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person, I suf- fered him to hurry me to my palazzo. attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in honour of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morn- orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure their immediate disappear- ing, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from the house. These ance, one and all, as soon as my back was turned. nato, bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortu- him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to the foot of the into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase, requesting descent, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of whenever I could. me with excessive friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap jingled as val season, that I encountered my have done wringing his hand. the Montresors. The gait of my he strode. "The pipe," said he. Amontillado, and I have my doubts." the carnival!" his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of He had a weak point-this Fortunato-although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself noisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity to and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the mal- ter of old wines he was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from him materially;-- I was skilful in the Italian vintages myself, and bought largely It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the carni- friend. He accosted a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was surmounted by the coni- warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley. He had on cal cap and bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never well you are looking to-day. But I have received a pipe of what passes for I said to him-"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably "How?" said he. "Amontillado? A pipe? Impossible! And in the middle of "I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the full Amon- tillado price without consulting you in the matter. You were not to be found, and I was fearful of losing a bargain." "Amontillado!" "I have my doubts." "Amontillado!" “And I must satisfy them." "Amontillado!" "As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchresi. If any one has a critical turn it is he. He will tell me "Luchresi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.” "And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own." "Come, let us go "Whither?" "To your vaults." "My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchresi "I have no engagement;-come." "My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. encrusted with nitre.94 "Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado! You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from Amontillado." 50 ugh! ugh!" go back; "It is farther on," said I; "but observe the white web-work which gleams from these cavern walls." He turned towards me, and looked into my eyes with two filmy orbs that distilled the rheum of intoxication. "Nitre?” he asked, at length. "Nitre," I replied. "How long have you had that cough?" Ugh! ugh! ugh!—ugh! ugh! ugh!—ugh! ugh! ugh!—ugh! ugh! ugh!—ugh! My poor friend found it impossible to reply for many minutes. "It is nothing," he said, at last. "Come," I said, with decision, "we will go back; your health is precious. You are rich, respected, admired, beloved; you are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me it is no matter. We will you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible. Besides, there is Luchresi- "Enough," he said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough." "True—true," I replied; "and, indeed, I had no intention of alarming you unneccessarily—but you should use all proper caution. A draught of this Medoc will defend us from the damps." Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I drew from a long row of its fellows that lay upon the mould. . "Drink," I said, presenting him the wine. He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me famil- iarly , while his bells jingled. “I drink," he said, "to the buried that repose around us." " “And I to your long life." He again took my arm, and we proceeded. "These vaults," he said, "are extensive." "The Montresors," I replied, "were a great and numerous family." They are "I forget your arms. 5. A knee-length cloak. 6. Flaming torches. "Sconces": holders. 7. Red wine from the Bordeaux region of France. 2. A multicolored costume worn by clowns and jesters. 3. A light Spanish sherry. "Pipe": a large barrel. 4. Niter; potassium nitrate. THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO 788 | EDGAR ALLAN POE "A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpentram. pant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel." "And the motto?" "Nemo me impune lacessit."9 "Good!" he said. of the into to see. "He is an by an arm above the elbow. among the bones . Come, we will go back ere it is too late. Your cough Medoc." with a gesticulation I did not understand. in my power." 13 warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skele The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew tons, with casks and puncheons' intermingling, into the inmost recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made bold to seize Fortunato "The nitre!" I said; "see, it increases. It hangs like moss upon the vaults. We are below the river's bed. The drops of moisture trickle "It is nothing," he said, "let us go on. But first, another draught of the I broke and reached him a flaçon of De Grâve. He emptied it at a breath. His eyes flashed with a fierce light. He laughed and threw the bottle upwards I looked at him in surprise. He repeated the movement—a grotesque one. "You do not comprehend?” he said. "Not I," I replied. "Then you are not of the brotherhood.” "How?" "You are not of the masons. "Yes, yes," I said; "yes, yes.” "You? Impossible! A mason?" “A mason," I replied. “A sign," he said, “a sign." "It is this," I answered, producing from beneath the folds of my roquelaire a trowel. "You jest,” he exclaimed, recoiling a few paces. "But let us proceed to the Amontillado." "Be it so," I said, replacing the tool beneath the cloak and again offering him my arm. He leaned upon it heavily. We continued our rout in search of the Amontillado. We passed through a range of low arches, descended , passed on, and descending again, arrived at a deep crypt, in which the foul- ness of the air caused our flambeaux rather to glow than flame. At the most remote end of the crypt there appeared another less spacious . Its walls had been lined with human remains, piled to the vault overhead , in the fashion of the great catacombs of Paris. Three sides of this interior cryp were still ornamented in this manner. From the fourth side the bones had been thrown down, and lay promiscuously upon the earth, forming at one point a mound of some size. Within the wall thus exposed by the displacing of the bones, we perceived a still interior crypt or recess, in depth about four 789 feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have been constructed · colossal supports of the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circumscribing walls of solid granite. It was in vain that Fortunato, uplifting his dull torch, endeavoured to pry the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble light did not enable us "Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchresi" ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily reached the extremity of the niche, and finding his progress arrested by the rock, stood stupidly bewildered. A moment more and I had fettered him to about two feet, horizontally. From one of these depended a short chain, the granite. In its surface were two iron staples, distant from each other from the other a padlock. Throwing the links about his waist, it was but the work of a few seconds to secure it. He was too much astounded to resist. Withdrawing the key I stepped back from the recess. "Pass your hand," I said, "over the wall; you cannot help feeling the nitre. Indeed, it is very damp. Once more let me implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you. But I will first render you all the little attentions "The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his astonishment. basta "True," I replied; "the Amontillado." As I said these words I busied myself among the pile of bones of which I have before spoken. Throwing them aside, I soon uncovered a quantity of building stone and mortar. With these materials and with the aid of my trowel, I began vigorously to wall up the entrance of the niche. I had scarcely laid the first tier of the masonry when I discovered that the intoxication of Fortunato had in great measure worn off. The earliest indica- tion I had of this was a low moaning cry from the depth of the recess. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long and obstinate silence. I laid the second tier, and the third, and the fourth; and then I heard the furious vibration of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my labours and sat down upon the bones. When at last the clanking subsided, I resumed the trowel, and finished without interruption the fifth, the sixth, and the seventh tier. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused, and holding the flambeaux over the mason-work, threw a few feeble rays upon the figure within. A succession of loud and shrill screams, bursting suddenly from the throat of the chained form, seemed to thrust me violently back. For a brief moment I hesitated, I trembled. Unsheathing my rapier, I began to grope with it about the recess; but the thought of an instant reassured me. hand upon the solid fabric of the catacombs and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall. I replied to the yells of him who clamoured. I re- echoed, I aided, I surpassed them in volume and in strength. I did this, and grew still. my pleted the eighth, the ninth and the tenth tier. I had finished a portion of placed my the clamourer 8. On the coat of arms the golden foot is in a blue background; the foot crushes a serpent whose head is reared up and biting. 9. No one insults me with impunity (Latin). I. Large casks. 2. A Bordeaux wine. 3. International and secretive fraternal organiza- tion thought to have originated among stonema- sons and cathedral builders in the Middle Ages, other through hand signs. whose members identified themselves to each 790 / EDGAR ALLAN POE а 12 b 11 i € position. But now there came from out the niche a low laugh that erected plastered in. I struggled with its weight; I placed it partially in its destined culty in recognizing as that of the noble Fortunato. The voice said- the hairs upon my head. It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had diffi We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo-he! he he!-over "Ha! ha! ha!-he! he! he!-a very good joke, indeed—an excellent jest. "He he he!--he! hehe! -yes, the Amontillado. But is it not getting late Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo—the Lady Fortunato and the our wine-he! he! he!" "The Amontillado!" I said. 6. rest? Let us be gone. “Yes," I said, "let us be gone. “For the love of God, Montresor!" "Yes," I said, "for the love of God!" T bolb I But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient. I called aloud "Fortunato!" No answer. I called again- “Fortunato!" .bir 0 No answer still. I thrust a torch through the remaining aperture and let it fall within . There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick; it was the dampness of the catacombs that made it so. I hastened to make an end of my labour. I forced the last stone into its position; 1 plas- tered it up. Against the new masonry I re-erected the old rampart of bones . For the half of a century no mortal has disturbed them. In pace requiescat. 1846 harles : The Philosoph
Purchase answer to see full attachment