December 7

December 7 is the date of a clandestine meeting between Augustus Landor and Edgar Allan Poe at Benny Havens' tavern, and of an attack that leaves Poe with a priest’s collar caught on his coat. The date links the tavern’s familiar refuge to a renewed danger in the investigation, while the recovered collar offers a tangible but unresolved clue.

Setting and Return

After spending far too many hours confined to one hotel room, Landor and Poe agree to meet under cover of darkness at Benny Havens' tavern. Landor has not visited for weeks, but the regulars accept his return without questions. The tavern’s welcome contrasts with his own estrangement: he is the one who feels the absence, and the familiar place seems newly strange to him.

The Night Outside the Tavern

The account shifts from the tavern to its icy, rain-covered steps. The rain recalls the night Randolph Ballinger was killed. In the dark, Poe locates Landor by the reflection in a puddle; soon afterward, a noise comes down the steps, and Poe is struck unconscious. He wakes across the road and hears horses galloping northward. The abrupt loss of consciousness leaves the identity of the attacker uncertain, but Poe concludes that a second person was involved, not just the adversary he had expected.

The Collar and Its Significance

About half an hour later, after Poe staggers back to the tavern, Mrs. Havens tends to him and the other patrons offer him drinks. Only then does he notice a band of starched cloth wrapped around his coat sleeve: a priest’s white collar, smeared with dirt and twigs. It is the sole object he has taken from the struggle. The collar makes the assault materially legible without resolving who attacked him or why; the date therefore marks both a physical clue and an investigative setback.