May
18
When Poe’s regrets were delivered, Mrs. Hurlington huffed about and made no mystery of her displeasure. “What is so tremendously arduous about paying a call on your greatest patron?” she railed to no one in particular. “Well, I promise you that he’ll not see another invitation or penny from this moment on!” Her exotic birds, flustered by her tone, flapped about their cages. Only the raven, set in the shadows by the heavy velvet curtain, was calm. It tipped a red eye towards her and whispered “Nevermore.”