Edgar Allan Poe and the Jewel of Peru

by Karen Lee Street

  For my father

  and for Milo

  No one knows better than a bird of the air where treasures are concealed.

  (Aristophanes, The Birds)

  1

  PHILADELPHIA FRIDAY, 12 JANUARY 1844

  It had been left by the front door after night had fallen. I was working on a tale by the kitchen fire when I heard a soft noise—the wind or perhaps sleet upon the glass. The sound was almost imperceptible, yet something in its nature disturbed me and I peered from the window. The darkness was too complete, so I made my way to the door and eased it open. Cold air charged in like an angry spirit, but there was no one to be seen or heard, no footprints in the soft white snow to mark an intruder’s presence. Yet on the step was a box, round in shape, wrapped up tidily in brown paper, its folded edges sealed with wax and tied with string. My skin prickled with unease as I brought it inside and placed it on the kitchen table.

  I held the lamp above it. My name and “Philadelphia” were written upon the parcel in ink that had bled into the paper. I cut the string, broke the wax seals and discovered a tin hatbox. Disquietude gave way to pleasure. My hat was increasingly shabby, an embarrassment on close inspection, and my wife and her mother must have contrived to buy me a new one. How like them!

  It was a full week before my birthday, and yet I could not resist—the wrappings were undone after all. My fingers greedily unlatched the lid. But when I looked inside, several pairs of obsidian eyes stared up at me—demon eyes. I leapt back, hands protecting my face, for crouched in that hatbox were three crows, beaks agape in their desire for flesh. I grabbed the fire iron to fend off the explosion of wings, yet the room remained silent, except for the ragged sound of my own breath. Cautiously I approached the box again and held the lamp over it. There was no doubt—the birds were dead.

  My relief was fleeting, though, for as I lifted one of the creatures from its peculiar tomb, I found its head was severed from its body, as were its wings and legs. What cruelty was this? So gruesome was the effect, I near retched as I placed the parts of all three birds onto the brown paper, searching in vain for some message. Oddly there was no smell of death or decay—the creatures had surely been mummified, like favored pets of an Egyptian pharaoh or perhaps the Emperor of Death himself. These wild fancies subsided, but my horror did not, for I knew with absolute certainty who had delivered the trio of ebony birds. It was my foe, my nemesis, the man who wished me dead: George Rhynwick Williams had returned to torment me.

  2

  FRIDAY, 19 JANUARY 1844

  The world was a ghost of itself. All color had been muted to white and an eerie stillness prevailed. Trees glistered in the rising sun, their limbs frozen by the ice storm that had come in the night, and the river was a sleek ribbon unfurled through the heavy cloak of snow. It appeared as solid as the ground surrounding it, but I kept to its banks, following my memory of the now invisible footpath that I walked daily. In the warmer months, it was my habit to rise early to swim in the Schuylkill River, and when it was too cold to swim, I walked along its edge to revivify myself with the exuberance of nature. As I made my way along my customary route, the deep snow hushed my footsteps and the sun danced wildly upon the ice. I seemed to be the only living thing in that crystalline world, entirely alone amidst its unearthly beauty.

  “Kee-rah!” A screech tore through the implacable quiet—it was a hawk of some kind. I scanned the heavens above me, but there was nothing to be seen, until a piece of sky hurtled down, skimmed over me and landed on the frozen branch of an oak tree. “Kee-rah!” A deceitful blue jay called out with the voice of a hawk as it skittered pugnaciously back and forth along the branch.

  “Kee-rah!” A call in response—or perhaps in challenge—as a red-shouldered hawk soared across the frozen river and, talons extended, approached the large oak where the blue jay waited. It appeared to have badly miscalculated its attack, for it crashed through the oak’s uppermost branches high above the lively jay. But the hawk had keener eyes than mine; it set a large bird into flight, a bird I had not noticed, so perfectly had it merged with the tree. The great horned owl left its refuge and glided up into the early morning sky, its wings rippling through the air in slow, undulating movements. The hawk followed, its own wings beating vigorously, and in moments it was upon the owl, talons piercing flesh, dislodging feathers. The owl wheeled mid-air and retaliated, slashing at the hawk’s reddish belly, then the two raptors locked talons and began to plummet earthwards, necks craning, beaks thrusting. Their vicious flapping stirred the snow into a whirlwind as they tumbled into it, still grappling. The pristine whiteness was soon spattered with red, and the air reverberated with the birds’ shrieks. I hastily packed a snowball, hoping to startle the enemies into a temporary truce, but before I could meddle in the forces of nature, the fighting birds rose up from the snow and thrashed their way into the sky together, like some ancient demon from hell, then broke apart, one flying north and one south.

  “Kee-rah!” The blue jay mimicked the hawk one final time before it too took wing and sailed across the Schuylkill, leaving me shivering on the river’s bank, the cold from the snowball numbing my hands and the vision of that avian battle filling me with disquiet.

  Later, as I approached our brick house on North Seventh Street, the first person I encountered was my mother-in-law, who was busily scraping ice from the footpath. She was a study in perpetual motion, ceaselessly working at household tasks and refusing all offers of assistance or entreaties to rest herself, with the words, “Industry pleases God”, or “Diligence is its own reward”. “Muddy”, as my wife and I called her, did not enjoy idleness and we had learned to appreciate rather than protest the fact that she made our lives much more comfortable. Despite my best efforts, I still had not managed to earn enough through my work as an editor, or in selling my tales and poems to support my family in the manner that I wished—that they deserved—and I was ever grateful to my industrious and canny mother-in-law. She had rescued us from the brink of penury far too often, whether through taking in washing and sewing, gathering edible wild plants to supplement our meals or her tenacious bartering at the market.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” I said, indicating the thick coat of ice that sparkled on the tree limbs, the roof of the house and the snow itself.

  “That tree branch is likely to come down,” Muddy observed, nodding at a large elm, “and we’ll lose some of the smaller trees when the thaw comes.”

  I looked at the lithe trees that were elegantly stooped with the weight of the ice and could see that Muddy’s dour presumptions were probably correct, but my heart fell a little with her words. Moments later my wife Virginia, my darling Sissy, appeared in the door and my joy was revived.

  “Oh, Eddy, isn’t is glorious? It’s like a fairy-world.” She stood on the front step, wrapped in the paisley woolen shawl I had bought her in London, the beauty of which could not rival hers as sunlight fell on her chestnut hair and revealed hues of copper, like the hidden sheen of color in a bird’s feathers.

  “That is just what I thought to myself during my walk. Magical, isn’t it?” I hurried up to the porch and put my arms around her.

  “You are half-frozen.” She pulled me by the hand into the warmth of the kitchen, where a fired roared and there was coffee and porridge on the stove. “Tell me what you saw at the river,” she said, as she set breakfast before me. “I so miss our walks! I have cabin fever, truly I do.”

  “The river is beautiful, fully frozen and glistening, with every tree around it sheathed in ice. But it is treacherous out,” I added, as longing crept over her face. “I tumbled half a dozen times despite my boots. My dignity was quite
defeated.”

  “I suspect you are exaggerating to bring me comfort.”

  “Not at all. Spring will be here soon enough. It would not do to fracture a limb and be confined to your cabin for weeks.”

  “I am not so fragile as you and Mother believe. I am certain I could navigate a snowy riverbank.”

  “It is the ice that is treacherous more than the snow, for it is difficult to see on the ground and one would need crampons to resist its slipperiness. And you are not so hardy as you declare yourself.” I kissed her cheek to take the sting from the truth of my words. My wife had a frail constitution, but heartily disliked it when her mother or I tried to “cosset” her, as she put it. “I did witness a peculiar spectacle at the river,” I added. “A battle of the birds, in fact.” I recounted what I had seen, and Sissy was entranced.

  “How strange and marvelous! I am not certain whether I would have wished the hawk or the owl to prevail. The owl, I think. They are such uncanny night creatures—what a rare thrill to see one in daylight.”

  “But what of the red-shouldered hawk?” I said. “Such a bold, brave fellow and so elegant with his mottled feathers, yellow beak and talons. It is glorious to watch him soar on the sky’s currents.”

  “But the great horned owl is equally handsome with his golden eyes and tiger-striped feathers. And he does seem so very wise. I think it is the feathery eyebrows.”

  “You will soon have him sporting a waistcoat and monocle, and smoking a meerschaum pipe, like some creature from a child’s fairy tale.” I smiled. “And what of the blue rapscallion? What do you think his motive might have been, for surely he stirred up the enmity between them?”

  Sissy pondered this. “Self-preservation. The jay knew that he might become breakfast for either the hawk or the owl and so he pitted them against each other. And if he is lucky, neither will return to that spot on the Schuylkill, each fearing the presence of its nemesis, and so the blue jay will be safe to nest in that oak tree.”

  My wife’s explanation seemed plausible, which filled me with good cheer. So strange and intense had the spectacle been, I half-feared the battle to be an omen connected to the dreadful package that had been left outside our door the week before.

  Sissy pulled her shawl tighter around her shoulders with a shiver. “Come, let us go sit in the parlor. Muddy has laid the fire and there is a piece I’d like to play for you.”

  “Of course, my darling.”

  I followed her from the kitchen to the parlor and when she opened the door, Catterina looked up from my chair, where she was curled in a neat circle. She arched up, then stretched her back legs, but did not relinquish her seat, merely allowed me to settle in before rearranging herself on my lap. She slowly blinked her green eyes at me twice, then retreated back to her dreams, purring her satisfaction as my fingers ran across her tortoise-shell coat and the first notes rose up from the strings deftly plucked by Virginia’s fingers.

  As I was a walking one morning in spring,

  For to hear the birds whistle and the nightingales sing,

  I saw a young damsel, so sweetly sang she:

  Down by the green bushes he thinks to meet me.

  I smiled as I recognized the folk song and leaned back in my chair, eyes closed to take in her words, which were accompanied by Catterina’s purr. As wonderfully as my wife played the piano, there was something in the sound of her harp music that had the effect of truly elevating my spirits.

  I want none of your petticoats and your fine silken shows:

  I never was so poor as to marry for clothes,

  But if you will prove loyal and constant to me,

  I’ll forsake my own true love and get married to thee.

  I silently accompanied my wife as she sang, enjoying the lyric without ruining the beauty of her voice by mixing in my own. A patter of applause came with the end of the song, and I opened my eyes to see my mother-in-law seated in her chair, clapping. Such was my concentration, I had not heard her enter the room, nor deposit the two parcels wrapped in brown paper and the envelope that were now lying on the table next to me.

  “You thought we had forgotten,” Sissy said, laughing. “Mother did not believe you would fall for our ruse, but I can tell from your expression that we managed to surprise you.”

  “You did indeed, my love. And I am as delighted with your cruelty as you are.” I did not spoil her joke by telling her that I had forgotten my own birthday. My twenty-one-year-old wife viewed all such anniversaries and holidays as joyful occasions to celebrate with loved ones, whereas turning thirty-five merely made me anxious about all I had yet to achieve.

  “Are you trying to guess the contents of your packages or have you left us again to worry at some new story like a dog with a bone?”

  “Attempting to guess, of course, applying every principle of ratiocination known to me.”

  “And your verdict, sir?” my wife asked.

  I scrutinized the packages on the table with mock concentration. “I believe this one is a magical purse that will never be emptied of gold. And this one a fount of ideas that is ever full. And this last packet is the most valuable of all, for it contains the vessel of your love for me, which can never be diminished, despite all the trials I put you through.”

  “Correct! How ever did you guess?”

  Muddy looked from her daughter to me and back again, shaking her head in amiable confusion, as she inevitably did when our fancies got the better of us.

  “Well, let’s take a look at these wonderful gifts.” I picked up the package from Muddy and undid the paper to reveal a muffler and a pair of thick socks, both knitted from ivory-colored wool. “How perfect,” I said, wrapping the scarf around my neck three times. “Long enough to remain secure on my rambles. And the socks—I fear you wearied of my complaints about my frozen toes in this icy weather.”

  “Indeed we have.” My wife smiled. “And Mother pledged to solve the problem.” She handed me the other package and watched with anticipation as I unfolded the paper to reveal a black silk neckcloth, elegant and beautifully made, hemmed with tiny stitches that attested to the patience of its maker.

  “It could not be more perfect,” I said. “When did you manage to sew this without my knowledge? It must have taken quite some time.”

  “When you were on your walks and at your desk, I was busy stitching. I hope you will wear it tonight.” She slid the envelope toward me.

  “An entertainment also? I am more than spoiled.”

  “Yes, you are,” my wife agreed.

  I opened the envelope to find two tickets for a play at the Walnut Street Theater that night. “The Vengeful Specter? I would not have thought a play with such a title would appeal to you.”

  “I know little about the play itself, but Mrs. Reynolds is the lead. She is quite the toast of Charleston, Richmond and now Philadelphia.”

  “Indeed she is. I wonder if her skills as an actress match her reputation, and if the play itself is any good.”

  “I do hope you won’t mutter whenever something displeases you. It can be very wearing for all around you.”

  “Not as wearing as a terrible play.”

  Before my wife could contradict me, there was a knock at the door. Muddy hurried out and returned a few moments later with a tall, broad-shouldered gentleman close to fifty years of age. His silvery hair was wavy and thick, his eyes a piercing blue, and he was dressed in a black habit with a scapular. I rose to my feet to shake his hand.

  “Father Keane, what a pleasure. Do sit.”

  “How lovely to see you, Father Keane,” my wife said. “Did you miss your walk along the Schuylkill this morning? Eddy has tried to convince me that it is dangerously icy out there.”

  “I’m afraid I did,” he replied as he lowered himself onto the sofa. “And your husband is not wrong about the ice. It would be safer to travel with skates on.”

  I had made the priest’s acquaintance almost a year ago, soon after we took up residence in the Seventh Street
house. Our paths had crossed at the riverbank—he went there most mornings to watch the birds and record his sightings. Father Keane was a highly cultivated Augustinian friar, born near the banks of the Shannon River in the west of Ireland and washed up in the port of Philadelphia, as he put it. He was also an amateur ornithologist and taught natural philosophy to the students at St. Augustine Academy. We quickly became friends as he was knowledgeable about an array of subjects, never pressed his religion on me and was not averse to the occasional card game.

  Father Keane removed a wooden cigar box from the folds of his cassock and held it toward me. When he noticed my look of anticipation and my wife’s consternation, he said, “It is not what you might presume.”

  My brief disappointment turned to pleasure when I saw what was inside: a bottle of ink, some pounce and three feathers that had been neatly fashioned into quill pens. The first was pure black, the second soft gray and the third, brown with delicate white markings.

  I examined them carefully, then made my guess: “Crow, goose, turkey?”

  “Correct. All found along the river, a true gift from our avian neighbors.”

  Muddy leaned in to peer more closely at the quill pens. “Very fine. You made them?”

  “I did. A useful hobby,” he said.

  My wife held the turkey feather up to the light and admired its markings. “They are beautiful. And the perfect gift for my husband, of course.”

  “Perfect indeed. I will both treasure them and use them often, for they are bound to add some mysterious otherness to my work. Thank you truly, sir.”

  “My pleasure. I hope you have many happy returns of the day.” Father Keane rose to his feet briskly. “And now forgive me, for I must make haste. I am due in the classroom in thirty minutes. Perhaps we will see each other at the Schuylkill tomorrow.” He reached out to shake my hand, then bowed to the ladies. Muddy began to rise, but Father Keane said, “Please don’t get up, madam. I will show myself out. Enjoy your day.” And he was gone, like a bird on the wing.