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The Cask of Amontillado
Edgar Allan 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 definitely 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 today. 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 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.'
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'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 Luchresi, he cannot distinguish Sherry from
Amontillado.'
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 suffered him
to hurry me to my palazzo.
There were no attendants at home; they had absconded to make merry in hour
of the time. I had told them that I should not return until the morning, and had
given them explicitly 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 upon
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,' he said.
'It is farther on,' said I; 'but observe the white web-work which gleams
from these cavern walls.'
He turned towards me, and looked onto 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 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
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 long walls of piled skeletons, 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. |
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发表于 2016-7-10 11:23:05