“Enough!” he said. “The cough is nothing. It will not kill me. I will not die of a cough.
“True, very true,” I answered. “I did not want to worry you. But you should be careful. Here, have a drink of this strong wine. It will warm you.”
I took a bottle of wine from the racks of bottles along the walls.
“Drink,” I said, giving him the bottle.
“I will drink,” he said, “to the dead people who are sleeping all around us.”
“And I will drink to your long life.”
Again, he took my arm, and we continued.
“These caves,” he said, “go a long way.”
“The Montresors,” I answered, “were a big and important family. There are a lot of tombs.”
“And what are those Latin words on every tomb? Do you know them?”
“Of course.”
“What do they say?”
“Nobody can hurt me without punishment.”
“Excellent!”
