# The Cask of Amontillado, by Edgar Allen Poe

The thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could; but
when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge. You, who so well
know the nature of 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 very definitiveness with which
it was resolved, precluded the idea of risk. I must not only punish,
but punish with impunity. A wrong is unredressed when retribution
overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger
fails to make himself felt as such to him who has done the wrong.

It must be understood, that neither by word nor deed had I given
Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont,
to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was
at the thought of his immolation.

He had a weak point--this Fortunato--although in other regards he
was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his
connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit.
For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and
opportunity--to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian
millionaires. In painting and gemmary Fortunato, like his countrymen,
was a quack--but in the matter 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 whenever I could.

It was about dusk, one evening during the supreme madness of the
carnival season, that I encountered my friend. He accosted me with
excessive warmth, for he had been drinking much. The man wore motley.
He had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and his head was
surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see
him, that I thought I should never have done wringing his hand.

I said to him--"My dear Fortunato, you are luckily met. How remarkably
well you are looking to-day! But I have received a pipe of what
passes for Amontillado, and I have my doubts."

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

"I have my doubts," I replied; "and I was silly enough to pay the
full Amontillado 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 Luchesi. If any one has a
critical turn, it is he. He will tell me--"

"Luchesi 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. Luchesi--"

"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. They are encrusted with nitre."

"Let us go, nevertheless. The cold is merely nothing. Amontillado!
You have been imposed upon. And as for Luchesi, he cannot distinguish
Sherry from Amontillado."

Thus speaking, Fortunato possessed himself of my arm. Putting on a
mask of black silk, and drawing a roquelaire closely about my person,
I suffered him to hurry me to my palazzo.

There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry
in honor of the time. I had told them that I should not return until
the morning, and had given them explicit orders not to stir from
the house. These orders were sufficient, I well knew, to insure
their immediate disappearance, one and all, as soon as my back was
turned.

I took from their sconces two flambeaux, and giving one to Fortunato,
bowed him through several suites of rooms to the archway that led
into the vaults. I passed down a long and winding staircase,
requesting him to be cautious as he followed. We came at length to
the foot of the descent, and stood together on the damp ground of
the catacombs of the Montresors.

The gait of my friend was unsteady, and the bells upon his cap
jingled as he strode.

"The pipe," said he.

"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!
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 go back; you will be ill, and I cannot be responsible.
Besides, there is Luchesi--"

"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 unnecessarily--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
familiarly, 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."

"I forget your arms."

"A huge human foot d'or, in a field azure; the foot crushes a serpent
rampant whose fangs are imbedded in the heel."

"And the motto?"

"Nemo me impune lacessit."

"Good!" he said.

The wine sparkled in his eyes and the bells jingled. My own fancy
grew warm with the Medoc. We had passed through walls of piled
bones, with casks and puncheons intermingling, into the inmost
recesses of the catacombs. I paused again, and this time I made
bold to seize Fortunato by an arm above the elbow.

"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 among the bones. Come, we will go back ere it is too late.
Your cough--"

"It is nothing," he said; "let us go on. But first, another draught
of the Medoc."

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 with a gesticulation I did not understand.

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.

"It is this," I answered, producing a trowel from beneath the folds
of my roquelaire.

"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
route 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 foulness 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 crypt 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 recess, in depth about four
feet, in width three, in height six or seven. It seemed to have
been constructed for no especial use within itself, but formed
merely the interval between two of the 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, endeavored
to pry into the depth of the recess. Its termination the feeble
light did not enable us to see.

"Proceed," I said; "herein is the Amontillado. As for Luchesi--"

"He is an ignoramus," interrupted my friend, as he stepped unsteadily
forward, while I followed immediately at his heels. In an instant
he had 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 the granite. In its surface were two iron
staples, distant from each other about two feet, horizontally. From
one of these depended a short chain, 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 must first
render you all the little attentions in my power."

"The Amontillado!" ejaculated my friend, not yet recovered from his
astonishment.

"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 a great measure worn off.
The earliest indication 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 vibrations
of the chain. The noise lasted for several minutes, during which,
that I might hearken to it with the more satisfaction, I ceased my
labors 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. I placed my hand upon the solid fabric of the
catacombs, and felt satisfied. I reapproached the wall. I replied
to the yells of him who clamored. I re-echoed--I aided--I surpassed
them in volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamorer grew
still.

It was now midnight, and my task was drawing to a close. I had
completed the eighth, the ninth, and the tenth tier. I had finished
a portion of the last and the eleventh; there remained but a single
stone to be fitted and plastered in. I struggled with its weight;
I placed it partially in its destined position. But now there came
from out the niche a low laugh that erected the hairs upon my head.
It was succeeded by a sad voice, which I had difficulty in recognising
as that of the noble Fortunate. The voice said--

"Ha! ha! ha!--he! he!--a very good joke indeed--an excellent jest.
We will have many a rich laugh about it at the palazzo--he! he!
he!--over our wine--he! he! he!"

"The Amontillado!" I said.

"He! he! he!--he! he! he!--yes, the Amontillado. But is it not
getting late? Will not they be awaiting us at the palazzo, the Lady
Fortunato and the 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!"

But to these words I hearkened in vain for a reply. I grew impatient.
I called aloud--

"Fortunato!"

No answer. I called again--

"Fortunato!"

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--on account of the dampness of the
catacombs. I hastened to make an end of my labor. I forced the last
stone into its position; I plastered 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!