A way of introducing students to the pleasure of reading is through the use of stories, especially horror stories like the ones written by Edgar Allan Poe.http://poestories.com/read/amontillado
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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 honour 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 webwork 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 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
flagon of De Grave. 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 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 in
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, endeavoured to pry into the depths 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 my 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 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. 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 clamoured. I reechoed -- I aided -- I surpassed them in
volume and in strength. I did this, and the clamourer 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 Fortunato. 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 labour. I
forced the last stone into its position; I plastered it up. Against the new
masonry I reerected the old rampart of bones. For the half of a century no
mortal has disturbed them.
In pace requiescat!
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