Juan Jose Padilla

the gold bug

The narrator explains that some time ago he befriended Mr William Legrand, a flamboyant man who had once been rich and, after losing his fortune, had moved, with his black servant named Jupiter and his dog, from his native New Orleans to Sullivan's Island. Legrand finds a gold scarab by chance and leaves it with an acquaintance. The narrator goes to visit him and they talk about the find. Legrand then draws him a picture to illustrate the beetle. When the narrator seems to mistake the beetle for a skull, Legrand is furious.