by Edgar Allan Poe

The Cask of Amontillado

Edgar Allan Poe

 

(click to listen)

The man Fortunato had done me a thousand wrongs. I bore them as best I could. But when he began to insult me, I vowed revenge.You who understand my nature, will know that I spoke no threats aloud. But to myself I vowed to be avenged, sometime. The point was settled in my mind. And since I had vowed revenge without fail, I must take no risk. I must not only punish, but punish without hurt to myself. I would no be truly avenged if I brought harm upon myself as well as upon him. Now would I be completely avenged unless he knew that his punishment came from me.

 Neither by word nor deed did I give Forunato cause to doubt my good will toward him. I smiled in his face, as always, and he did not know that now I was smiling at thought of the punishment sure to be his.

 He had a week point-this Fortunato-though in all other things he was a man to be looked up to, and even feared. He prided himself on being judge of wine. He was vain on this point. Fortunato was a quack in painting and gems. But in the matter of old wines, he was a good judge. I should know, for I too am a judge of Italian wines.

It was about dusk one evening during carnival time, that I met Forunato. He greeted me with great warmth, for he had been drinking much. He was dressed in the spirit of carnival, wearing a tight-fitting jester's costume, gay with many-colored stripes. On his head was a high, pointed cap with bells. I was so pleased to see him that I thought I should never be done shaking his hand.

"My dear Fotunato," I said, "it is lucky we met. How well you are looking today.I have just bought a cask of what passes for amontillado, but I have my doubts that it is the real thing."

 "Amontillado?" he said. "A cask? Impossible! And in the middle of the carnival!"

"I was silly enough to pay the full amontillado price. I should have asked your opinion, for I had my doubts. But you were not to be found, and I was afraid of losing the bargain."

"Amontillado!"
  
 "I am not sure of it. I should like your opinion. But if you are too busy, I will get Luchesi's advice. If anyone is a good judge, he is. I am on my way to him now."

 "Luchesi cannot tell amontillado from sherry."

"And yet some fools will say that his taste is as good as your own."

 "Come, let us go."

"Where?"

 "To your vaults ."

 "My friend, no. I would not trouble you. You are in a hurry. And Luchesi will-"

 "I am in no hurry-come on."

"My friend, no. I see you have a severe cold, and the vaults are very damp."

"Let us go anyway. My cold is nothing. Amontillado! You have been fooled. And as for Luchesi, he can't tell sherry from amontillado."

As he spoke, Fortunato put on a mask of black silk and took my arm. I let him hurry me on to my place.

(click to listen)

There were no servants at home; they had all gone off to make merry in the carnival season. I had told them that I should not return until morning and that they were not to leave the house. This was enough, I knew, to cause them to leave the place ,one and all, the moment my back was turned.

 I took two torches from their holders, and gave one to Forunato. Then I bowed him through several rooms to the winding stairway, warning him to be careful as he followed.
We came at last to the foot of the stairway, and stood together upon the damp ground of the catacombs of the Montresors.

Fortunado's step was unsteady, and the bells on his cap jingled as he walked.

"The cask." He said. "Ugh! Ugh!- Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

 "It is farther on, " said I. " How long have you had that cough?"

He turned toward me, and looked into my face with the moist eyes of a drunken man. He could not reply for some minutes because of his cough.

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!- Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! It is nothing." He said at last.

"Come." I said firmly, " we will go back. Your health is precious . You are rich, admired, loved. You are happy, as once I was. You are a man to be missed. For me, it is no matter. We will go back: you will be ill, and I would be blamed. Besides there is Luchesi-"

"Never mind." He said; "the cough is a mere nothing; it will not kill me. I shall not die of a cough."

 "True-true." I said, "and indeed, I do not wish to alarm you-but you should take care of yourself. A drink of this Medoc will defend you from the damp."

Here I knocked off the neck of a bottle which I took from a row that lay upon the mold.

"Drink," I said, handing him the wine.

 He raised it to his lips with a leer. He paused and nodded to me, making the bells jingle.

 "I drink," he said, to the peaceful rest of those who lie buried all about us.

"And I to your long life."

He again took my arm, and we walked on.

"These catacombs," he said, "go on a long way."

"The Montressors," I replied, "were a great family."

"I forget the motto of the Montressors' coat of arms."

" Nemo me impune lacessit."

"Good!" he said.

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 The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through long walls of piled skeletons, and long walls of casks and bottles, now one, now the other. At least we entered the deepest part of the vaults. I paused again, and this time I made bold to take hold of Fortunato's arm above the elbow.

"We are below the river's bed," I said. "Moisture drips among the bones. Come, we'll go back before it is too late."
"Your caugh-"

 "It is nothing," he said. "Let us go on. But first, another drink of the Modoc."

I broke and handed to him a bottle of De Grave . He drank it at a breath, laughed and threw the bottle upward, with a gesture I didn't understand. I looked at him in surprise, He repeated the gesture-a strange one.

"You don't understand?" he said.

 "No," I replied.

"Then you are not of the brotherhood-you are not of the masons ."

"Yes, yes." I said, "yes, yes."

 "You" Impossible! A mason?"

"Yes, a mason, I replied.

"A sign," he said, "give the sign."

 "It is this," I said, taking the trowel from under my cloak .

 "You jest ," he cried, drawing back, "But let us go on to the amontillado ."

 "Be it so," I said, putting the tool under my cloak and again offering him my arm.

He leaned on it heavily. We passed through a range of low arches, went downward, passed on, went down again, and came to a deep vault in which the air was so foul our torches seemed to glow rather than flame. At the farther end of the vault was another, a smaller one. Three sides of this vault were lined with human bones, piled to the top. On the fourth side, the bones had been thrown down and lay in heap upon the ground. In this wall cleared of bones, could be seen an alcove , six or seven feet high, about three feet wide, and four feet deep. It was formed between two pillars that held the roof of the catacombs, and was backed by one of their circling walls of solid stone. It seemed to made been made for no particular use.

 Go in," I said. "The amontillado is in here. As for Luchesi-"

 Fortunato lifted his dull torch and tried to see what was in the alcove, but the light was too feeble .

 "Luchesi knows nothing," he said, as he stepped unsteadily forward, while I followed his heels.

In a moment he had reached the end of the alcove, and finding himself stopped by the rock wall, stood stupidly, at a loss. A moment more and I had chained him to the rock. Two iron rings were fixed in the wall; from one hung a short chain, from the other a padlock. It was the work of a few seconds to throw the chain about his waist and fasten it to the wall with the padlock. He was too much surprised to struggle. Taking the key from the lock, I stepped back out of the alcove.

 "Pass your hand over the wall." I said," You cannot help feeling the mold. The wall is very damped Once more let me beg you to return. You will not? Then I must leave you. But I will first do what little I can for you."

 "The Amontillado!" he cried, still lost in wonder.

 "True," I said," The amontillado."

As I spoke these words I was busy among the pile of bones heaped on the floor. Throwing them aside, I soon came upon building stone and mortar. With these, and by use if my trowel, I began rapidly to wall up the opening to the alcove.


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I had scarcely laid the first row of stones when I knew that Fortunato?s drunkenness had largely worn off. The first sign of this was a low moaning cry. It was not the cry of a drunken man. There was then a long dogged silence.

I laid the second row of stones, and the third, and the forth, and then I heard the chains rattling furiously. The noise lasted for several minutes. And so that I might the more enjoy the sound, I stopped my work and sat down upon the heap of bones. When the clanking at last stopped, I took up the trowel and laid the fifth, sixth, and seventh row of stones. The wall was now nearly upon a level with my breast. I again paused and, holding the torch over the wall, threw a feeble light upon the figure within.

 The loud and shrill screams which burst suddenly from the throat of the chained form seemed by their force to thrust me violently back. For a moment I paused, trembling with fear. I drew my sword and began to grope with it about the alcove, but one second thought I was calm again. I placed my hand upon the solid wall of the catacombs and lost all doubt. I replied to his yells- I aided, I outdid him in the strength of loud cries. I did this, and the clamor grew still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to close. I laid the eight, the ninth, the tenth, and a part of the eleventh row of stones. There was lacking only a single stone. I struggled with its weight, and set it partly in place. But now there came from within a low laugh that raised the hair upon my head, it was followed by a sad voice, a voice unlike that of the noble Fortunato:

"Ha! Ha! Ha! -He! He! He!- a very good joke indeed-a fine joke. We all have many a good laugh about this- He! He! He!-over our wine- He! He! He! "

"The amontillado," I said.

 "He! He! He! He!- yes, the amontillado. But isn't it getting late? They will be waiting for us, the Lady Fortunato and the rest. Let us be going."

"Yes," I said, " let us be going."
" For... "Yes," I said," for the love of god!"

 But to these words I listened in a vain for a reply. I tried of waiting. I called aloud, " Fortunato!"

 No answer. I called again. "Fortunato!"

No answer still. I pushed a torch through the opening and let it fall within. There came forth in return only a jingling of the bells. My heart grew sick- because of the dampness of the place. I hurried to finish my work. I forced the last stone into place; I plastered it up. Against the new masonry, I rebuild the wall of bones. For half of a century no mortal has moved them.

In place requiescat!