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 embedded 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 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,


  By PanEris using Melati.

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