The Oblong Box by Edgar Allan Poe. Some years ago, I engaged passage
from Charleston, s c. To the City of New York in the fine
packet ship Independence Captain Hardy. We were to sail on the fifteenth of the
month June, weather permitting, and on the fourteenth I went on board to
arrange some matters in my state room. I found that we were to have
a great many passengers, including a more than usual number of ladies. On
the list were several of my acquaintances, and among other names, I was
rejoiced to see that mister Cornelius Wyatt, a young artist for whom I entertained
feelings of warm friendship. He had been with me a fellow student at Sea
University, where we were very much together. He had the ordinary temperament of
genius, and was a compound of misanthropy, sensibility, and enthusiasm. To
these qualities he united the warmest and truest heart which ever beat in a human
bosom. I observed that his name was carded upon three state rooms, and
upon again referring to the list of passengers, I found that he had engaged
passage for himself, wife, and two sisters his own. The state rooms
were sufficiently roomy, and each had two berths, one above the other.
These berths, to be sure, were so exceedingly narrow as to be insufficient
for more than one person. Still, I could not comprehend why there were
three staterooms for these four persons. I was just at that epoch, in
one of those moody frames of mind which make a man abnormally inquisitive about trifles.
And I confess with shame that I busied myself in a variety of ill
bred and preposterous conjectures about this matter of the supernumery stateroom. It was no
business of mine, to be sure, But with none the less pertinicity did
I occupy myself in attempts to resolve the enigma. At last I reached a
conclusion which wrought in me great wonder why I had not arrived at it before.
It is a servant, of course, I said, what a fool,
I am not sooner to have thought of so obvious a solution. And
then I again repaired to the list. But here I saw distinctly that no
serpent was to come with the party, although in fact it had been the
original design to bring one, for the words and servant had been first written
and then overscored, Oh extra baggage. To be sure, I now said
to myself something he wishes not to be put in hold, something to be
kept under his own eye. Ah, I have it a painting or so,
and this is what he has been bargaining about with Nicolino, the Italian
Jew. This idea satisfied me, and I dismissed my curiosity for the nons
Whyatt's two sisters I knew very well and most amiable and clever girls. They
were his wife, he had newly married, and I had never yet seen
her. He had often talked about her in my presence, however, and
in his usual style of enthusiasm, he described her as of surpassing beauty,
wit and accomplishment. I was therefore quite anxious to make her acquaintance. On
the day in which I visited the ship, the fourteenth Wide and party were
also to visit it, so the captain informed me, and I waited on
board an hour longer than I had designed, in hope of being presented to
the bride. But then an apology came. Missus w was a little indisposed
and would decline coming on board until tomorrow. At the hour of sailing.
The morrow having arrived, I was going from my hotel to the wharf when
Captain Hardy met me and said that owing to circumstances a stupid but convenient phrase.
He rather thought the independents would not sail for a day or two,
and that when all was ready, he would send up and let me know.
This. I thought strange, for there was a stiff southerly breeze.
But as the circumstances were not forthcoming, although I pumped for them with much
perseverance, I had nothing to do but to rehurn home and digest my impatience
at leisure. I did not receive the expected message from the captain for nearly
a week. It came at length, however, and I immediately went on
board. The ship was crowded with passengers, and everything was in the bustle
attendant upon making sail. Wyatt's party arrived in about ten minutes after myself.
There were the two sisters, the bride and the artist, the latter in
one of his customary fits of moody misanthropy. I was too well used to
these, however, to pay them any special attention. He did not even
introduce me to his wife, this courtesy devolving perforce upon his sister, Mary
Anne, a very sweet and intelligent girl, who, in a few hurried
words made us acquainted. Missus Wyatt had been closely veiled, and when she
raised her veil in acknowledging my bow, I confessed that I was very profoundly
astonished. I should have been much more so, however, had not long
experience advised me not to trust with too implicit a reliance the enthusiastic descriptions of
my friend the artist when indulging in comments upon the loveliness of women, when
beauty was the theme, I well knew with what facility he soared into the
regions of the purely ideal. The truth is I could not help regarding Missus
Wyatt as a decidedly plain looking woman. If not positively ugly, she was
not, I think, very far from it. She was dressed, however,
in exquisite taste, and then I had no doubt that she had captivated
my friend's heart by the more enduring graces of the intellect and soul. She
said very few words and passed at once into her stateroom with mister w My
old inquisitiveness now returned. There was no servant. That was a settled point.
I looked, therefore for the extra baggage. After some delay, a
cart arrived at the wharf with an oblong pine box, which was everything that
seemed to be expected. Immediately upon its arrival we made sail, and in
a short time were safely over the bar and standing out to sea. The
box in question was, as I say, oblong. It was about six
feet in length by two and a half in breadth. I observed it attentively,
and liked to be precise. Now this shape was peculiar, and no
longer had I seen it than I took credit to myself for the accuracy of
my guessing. I had reached the conclusion, it will be remembered, that
the extra baggage of my friend the artist would prove to be pictures, or
at least a picture, for I knew he had been for several weeks in
conference with Nicolino, and now here was a box which, from its shape
could possibly contain nothing in the world but a copy of Leonardo's last supper,
and a copy of this very last supper done by Rubini. The younger at
Florence, I had known for some time to be in the possession of Niccolino.
This point, therefore, I considered as sufficiently settled. I chuckled excessively
when I thought of my acumen. It was the first time I had ever
known why it to keep from me any of his artistical secrets. But here
he evidently intended to steal a march upon me and smuggle a fine picture to
New York under my very nose, Expecting me to know nothing of the matter.
I resolved to quiz him well now and hereafter. One thing, however,
annoyed me not a little. The box did not go into the extra
stateroom. It was deposited in White's own, and there too it remained,
occupying very nearly the whole of the floor, no doubt to the exceeding discomfort
of the artist and his wife. This the more especially as the tar or
paint with which it was lettered in sprawling capitals, emitted a strong, disagreeable
and to my fancy, a peculiarly disgusting odor. On the lid were painted
the words Missus Adelaide Curtis Albany, New York, charge of Cornelius Wyatt esquire
this side up to be handled with care. Now I was aware that Missus
Adelaide Curtis of Albany was the artist's wife's mother. But then I looked upon
the whole address as a mystification intended especially for myself. I made up my
mind, of course, that the box and contents would never get farther north
than the studio of my misanthropic friend in Chambers Street, New York. For
the first three or four days we had fine weather, although the wind was
dead ahead, having chopped round to the northward immediately upon our losing sight of
the coast. The passengers were consequently in high spirits and disposed to be social.
I must accept, however, Wyatt and his sisters, who behaved stiffly,
and I could not help thinking uncourteously to the rest of the party.
Whyite's conduct I did not so much regard. He was gloomy, even beyond
his usual habit. In fact, he was more rose, But in him
I was prepared for eccentricity. For the sisters, however, I could make
no excuse. They secluded themselves in their state rooms during the greater part of
the passage, and absolutely refused although I repeatedly urged them to hold communication with
any person on board. Missus Whitet herself was far more agreeable. That is
to say, she was chatty, and to be chatty is no slight recommendation.
At sea, she became excessively intimate with most of the ladies, and
to my profound astonishment, evinced no equivocal disposition to coquette with the men.
She amused us all very much, I say, amused, and scarcely know
how to explain myself. The truth is, I soon found that Missus w
was far oftener laughed at than with. The gentleman said little about her,
but the ladies in a little while pronounced her a good hearted thing, rather
indifferent, looking, totally uneducated, and decidedly vulgar. The great wonder was
how Whyae had been entrapped into such a match. Wealth was the general solution,
but this I knew to be no solution at all, For White had
told me that she neither brought him a dollar, nor had any expectations from
any source. Whatever he had married, he said, for love and for
love only, and his bride was far more than worthy of his love.
When I thought of these expressions on the part of my friend. I confessed
that I felt indescribably puzzled. Could it be possible that he was taking leave
of his senses? What else could I think? He so refined, so
intellectual, so fastidious, with so exquisite a perception of the faculty, and
so keen an appreciation of the beautiful. To be sure, the lady seemed
especially fond of him, particularly so in his absence, when she made herself
ridiculous by frequent quotations of what he had been said by her beloved husband,
mister Wyatt. The word husband seemed forever to use, one of her own
delicate expressions, forever on the tip of her tongue. In the meantime,
it was observed by all on board that he avoided her in the most pointed
manner, and for the most part shut himself up alone in his stateroom,
where in fact he might have been said to live altogether, leaving his wife
at full liberty to amuse herself as she thought best in the public society of
the main cabin. My conclusion from what I saw and heard was that the
artist, by some unaccountable freak of fate, or perhaps in some fit of
enthusiastic and fanciful passion had been induced to unite himself with a person altogether beneath
him, and that the natural result, entire and speedy disgust had ensued.
I pitied him from the bottom of my heart, but could not for that
reason quite forgive his incommunicativeness in the matter of the Last Supper. For this
I resolved to have my revenge. One day he came up on deck,
and taking his arm, as had been my wont I sauntered with him backward
and forward. His gloom, however, which I considered quite natural under the
circumstances, seemed entirely unabated. He said little, and that moodily and with
evident effort. I ventured a jest or two, and he made a sickening
attempt at a smile. Poor fellow. As I thought of his wife,
I wondered that he could have heart to put on even the semblance of mirth.
At last, I ventured a home thrust. I determined to commence a
series of covert insinuations or innuendoes about the oblong box, just to let him
perceive gradually that I was not altogether the butt or victim of his little bit
of pleasant mystification. My first observation was by way of opening a masked battery.
I said something about the peculiar shape of that box, and as I
spoke the words, I smiled knowingly, winked, and touched him gently with
my forefinger in the ribs. The manner in which Wyat received this harmless pleasantry
convinced me at once that he was mad. At first, he stared at
me as if he found it impossible to comprehend the witticism of my remark.
But as its point seemed slowly to make its way into his brain, his
eyes, in the same proportions, seemed protruding from their sockets. Then he
grew very red and hideously pale. Then, as if highly amused with what
I had insinuated, he began to a loud and boisterous laugh, which,
to my astonishment, he kept up with gradually increasing vigor for ten minutes or
more. In conclusion, he fell flat and heavily upon the deck. When
I ran to uplift him. To all appearances he was dead. I called
assistance, and with much difficulty we brought him to himself. Upon reviving,
he spoke incoherently for some time. At length we bled him and put him
to bed. The next morning he was quite recovered, so far as regarded
his mere bodily health of his mind, I say nothing. Of course,
I avoided him during the rest of the passage, by advice of the captain,
who seemed to coincide with me altogether in my views of his insanity,
but cautioned me to say say nothing on this head to any person on board.
Several circumstances occurred immediately after this fit of whites, which contributed to heighten
the curiosity with which I was already possessed. Among other things this I had
been nervous, drank too much strong green tea, and slept ill at night.
In fact, for two nights I could not be properly said to sleep
at all. Now my stateroom opened into the main cabin or dining room,
as did those of all the single men on board. Whye's three rooms were
in the after cabin, which was separated from the main one by a slight
sliding door never locked even at night. As we were almost certainly on a
wind and the breeze was not a little stiff, the ship heeled to leeward
very considerably, and whenever her starboard side was to leeward, the sliding door
between the cabins slid open, and so remained, nobody taking the trouble to
get up and shut it. But my berth was in such a position that
when my own stateroom door was open as well as the sliding door in question,
and my own door was always open on account of the heat, I
could see into the aftercabmin quite distinctly, and just at that portion of it
too, were situated the staterooms of mister Wyatt Well during two nights not consecutive,
while I lay awake, I clearly saw missus W about eleven o'clock upon
each night, still cautiously from the stateroom of mister W and entered the extra
room, where she remained until daybreak, when she was called by her husband
and went back. That they were virtually separated was clear they had separate apartments,
no doubt in contemplation of a more permanent divorce. And here after all
I thought, was the mystery of the extra stateroom. There was another circumstance
too, which interested me much during the two wakeful nights in question, and
immediately after the disappearance of missus Wyatt into the extra stateroom, I was attracted
by certain singular, cautious, subdued noises in that of her husband. After
listening to them for some time with thoughtful attention, I at length succeeded perfectly
in translating their inac They were sounds occasioned by the artist in prying open the
oblong box by means of a chisel and mallet, the latter being apparently muffled
or deadened by some soft woolen or cotton substance in which its head was enveloped.
In this manner, I fancied I could distinguish the precise moment when he
fairly disengaged the lid, Also that I could determine when he removed it altogether,
and when he deposited upon the lower berth in his room. This latter
point I knew, for example, by certain slight taps which the lid made
in striking against the wooden edges of the berth, as he endeavored to lay
it down very gently, there being no room for it on the floor.
After this there was a dead stillness, and I heard nothing more upon either
occasion until nearly daybreak, unless perhaps I may mention a low sobbing or murmuring
sound so very much suppressed as to be nearly inaudible, If indeed the whole
of this latter noise were not rather produced by my own imagination. I say
it seemed to resemble sobbing or sighing, but of course it could not have
been either. I rather think it was a ringing in my own ears.
Mister Wyatt, no doubt, according to custom, was merely giving the rein
to one of his hobbies. Indulging in one of his fits of artistic enthusiasm.
He had opened his oblong box in order to feast his eyes on the
pictorial treasure within. There was nothing in this, however, to make him
sob I repeat, therefore, that it must have been simply a freak of
my own fancy, distempered by good Captain Hardy's green tea. Just before dawn
on each of the two nights of which I speak, I distinctly heard mister
Wyatt replace the lid upon the oblong box and force the nails into their old
places by means of the muffled mallet. Having done this, he issued from
his stateroom fully dressed, and proceeded to call missus w from hers. We
had been at sea seven days and were now off Cape Hatteras when there came
a tremendously heavy blow from the southwest. We were in a measure prepared for
it. However, as the weather had been holding out threats for some time,
everything was made snow a low and aloft, and as the wind steadily
freshened, we lay too at length under spanker and foretopsail, both double reefed.
In this trim. We rowed safely enough for forty eight hours, the
ship proving herself an excellent sea boat in many respects, and shipping no water
of any consequence. At the end of this period, however, the gale
had freshened into a hurricane, and our after sail split into ribbons, bringing
us so much in the trough of the water that we shipped several prodigious seas,
one immediately after the other. By this accident, we lost three men
overboard with the cboos, and nearly the whole of the larboard bulwarks. Scarcely
had we recovered our senses before the foretopsail went into shreds. When we got
up a storm staysail, and with this did pretty well for some hours,
the ship heading the sea much more steadily than before. The gale still held
on, however, and we saw no signs of its abating. The rigging
was found to be ill fitted and greatly strained, and on the third day
of the blow, about five in the afternoon, our mizen mast, in
a heavy lurch to windward, went by the board for an hour or more.
We tried in vain to get rid of it on account of the prodigious
rolling of the ship, and before we had succeeded, the carpenter came aft
and announced four feet of water in the hold. To add to our dilemma,
we found the pumps choked and nearly useless. All was now confusion and
despair, but an effort was made to lighten the ship by throwing overboard as
much of her cargo as could be reached, and by cutting away the two
masts that remained. This we at last accomplished, but we were still unable
to do anything at the pumps, and in the meantime the leak gained on
us very fast. At sundown, the gale had sensibly diminished its violence,
and as the sea went down with it. We still entertained faint hopes of
saving ourselves in the boats. At eight p m. The clouds broke away
to windward, and we had the advantage of a full moon, a piece
of good fortune, which served wonderfully to cheer our drooping spirits. After incredible
labor, we succeeded at length in getting the longboat over the side without material
accident, and into this we crowded the whole of the crew and most of
the passengers. This party made off immediately, and after undergoing much suffering,
finally arrived in safety at Okracoke Inlet on the third day after the wreck.
Fourteen passengers with the captain, remained on board, resolving to trust their fortunes
to the jolly boat. At the stern, we lowered it without difficulty,
although it was only by a miracle that we prevented it from swamping as it
touched the water it contained. When afloat the captain and his wife, mister
Wyan party, a Mexican officer wife, four children, and myself with a
Negro valet. We had no room, of course, for anything, except
a few positively necessary instruments, some provisions, and the clothes upon our backs.
No one had thought of even attempting to save anything more. What must
have been the astonishment of all. Then, when having proceeded a few fathoms
from the ships, Wyatt stood up in the stern sheets and coolly demanded of
Captain Hardy that the boat should be put back for the purpose of taking in
his oblong box. Sit down, mister Wyatt replied the captain, somewhat sternly.
You will capsize us if you do not sit quite still. Our gunwale
is almost in the water. Now the box, vociferated mister Wyatt, still
standing the box, I say, Captain Hardy, you cannot You will not
refuse me. Its weight will be but a trifle. It is nothing,
mere nothing, by the mother who bore you, for the love of Heaven,
by your hope of salvation. I implore you to put back for the
box. The captain for a moment seemed touched by the earnest appeal of the
artist, but he regained his stern composure and merely said, mister Wyatt,
you are mad. I cannot listen to you. Sit down, I say,
or you will swamp the boat. Stay hold him, seize him.
He is about to spring overboard. There I knew it. He is over.
As the captain said this, mister Wyatt in fact sprang from the boat,
and, as we were yet in the lee of the rest, succeeded
by almost in superhuman exertion, in getting hold of a rope which hung from
the fore chains. In another moment he was on board and rushing frantically down
into the cabin. In the meantime, we had been swept astern of the
ship, and being quite out of her lee, were at the mercy of
the tremendous sea, which was still running. We made a determined effort to
put back, but our little boat was like a feather in the breath of
a tempest. We saw at a glance that the doom of the unfortunate artist
was sealed. As our distance from the wreck rapidly increased. The madman,
for as such only could we regard him, was seen to emerge from the
companionway up which, by dint of strength that appeared gigantic. He dragged bodily
the oblong box. While we gazed in the extremity of astonishment. He passed
rapidly several turns of a three inch rope, first around the box and then
about his body. In another instant, both body and box were in the
sea, disappearing suddenly at once and foreveringered Awhile sadly upon our oars, with
our eyes riveted upon the spot, At length we pulled away. The silence
remained unbroken for an hour. Finally I hazarded a remark, did you observe,
Captain, how suddenly they sank? Was not that an exceedingly singular thing.
I confess that I entertained some feeble hope of his final deliverance when I
saw him lash himself to the box and commit himself to the sea. They
sank as a matter of course, replied the captain, and that like a
shot, they will soon rise again, however, but not till the salt
melts the salt I ejaculated. Hush, said the captain, pointing to the
wife and sisters of the deceased. We must talk of these things at some
more appropriate time. We suffered much and made a narrow escape, but fortune
befriended us, as well as our mates in the long boat. We landed
in Fine, more dead than alive. After four days of intense distress,
upon the beach opposite Roanoke Island. He remained here a week, were not
ill treated by the wreckers, and at length obtained a passage to New York.
About a month after the loss of the Independence, I happened to meet
Captain Hardway in Broadway. Our conversation turned naturally upon the disaster, and especially
upon the sad fate of poor Wyatt. I thus learned the following particulars.
The artist had engaged passage for himself, wife, two sisters, and a
servant. His wife was, indeed, as she had been represented, a
most lovely and most accomplished woman. On the morning of the fourteenth of June,
the day in which I first visited the ship, the lady suddenly sickened
and died. The young husband was frantic with grief, but circumstances imperatively forbade
the deferring his voyage to New York. It was necessary to take to her
mother the corpse of his adored wife, And on the other hand, the
universal prejudice which would prevent his doing so openly was well known. Nine tenths
of the passengers would have abandoned the ship rather than take passage with a dead
body. In this dilemma, Captain Hardy arranged that the corpse, being first
partially embalmed and packed with a large quantity of salt in a box of pudable
dimensions, should be conveyed on board as merchandise. Nothing was to be said
of the lady's decease, and as it was well understood that mister Wyatt had
engaged passage for his wife, it became necessary that some person should personate her
during the voyage. This, the deceased lady's maid, was easily prevailed on
to do. The extra state room originally engaged for this girl during her mistress's
life, was now merely retained. In this state room. The pseudo wife
slept, of course, every night. In the daytime she performed to the
best of her ability. The part of her mistress, whose person it had
been carefully ascertained, was unknown to any of the passengers on board. My
own mistake arose naturally enough through too careless, too inquisitive, and too impulsive
a temperament. But of late, it is a rare thing that I sleep
soundly at night. There's a countenance which haunts me. Turn as I will,
There's a hysterical laugh which will forever ring within my ears. End of
the oblong box