we should build a wall around her and make her pay for it.
The thousand injuries of Theresa May I had borne as I best could, but when she ventured upon insult I vowed revenge. You, who so well know the nature of my soul, will not suppose, however, that 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 overtakes its redresser. It is equally unredressed when the avenger fails to make himself felt as such to she who has done the wrong.
It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Theresa May cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my in to smile in her face, and she did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of her immolation.
She had a weak point --this Theresa May-- although in other regards she was a woman to be respected and even feared. She prided herself on her connoisseurship in wine. Few vicar's daughters 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, Theresa May, like her countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines she was sincere. In this respect I did not differ from her 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 her. She accosted me with excessive warmth, for she had been drinking much. The woman wore motley. She had on a tight-fitting parti-striped dress, and her head was surmounted by the conical cap and bells. I was so pleased to see her that I thought I should never have done wringing her hand.
From 'The Cask of Amontillado' by Edgar Allen Poe, revised by Pickman's model