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“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe, the Pennsylvania State Uni-
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The Cask of Amontillado
By
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 sup-
pose, 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 over-
takes 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 con-
tinued, as was my wont, to smile in his face, and he did not
perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his im-
molation.
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