KLJSDFLEFMDCC,EEEEEEEEEETRYTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR33444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444444 TRUE! -- nervous -- very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will
you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses -- not
destroyed -- not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute.
I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things
in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily -- how
calmly I can tell you the whole story.
It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but
once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was none.
Passion there was none. I loved the old man. He had never wronged me. He
had never given me insult. For his gold I had no desire. I think it was
his eye! yes, it was this! He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue
eye, with a film over it. Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold;
and so by degrees -- very gradually --I made up my mind to take the life
of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye forever.
Now this is the point. You fancy me mad. Madmen know nothing. But
you should have seen me. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded
--with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation
I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man than during the whole
week before I killed him. And every night, about midnight, I turned the
latch of his door and opened it --oh so gently! And then, when I had
made an opening sufficient for my head, I put in a dark lantern, all
closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my
head. Oh, you would have laughed to see how cunningly I thrust it in! I
moved it slowly --very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old
man's sleep. It took me an hour to place my whole head within the
opening so far that I could see him as he lay upon his bed. Ha! --would a
madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in
the room, I undid the lantern cautiously --oh, so cautiously
--cautiously (for the hinges creaked) --I undid it just so much that a
single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. And this I did for seven long
nights --every night just at midnight --but I found the ey熔点十二五 什么儿342 史蒂芬孙夺要枯枯要e he would have been a very profound old man,
indeed, to suspect that every night, just at twelve, I looked in upon
him while he slept.
Upon the eighth night I was more than usually caut342 四分卫柘城ore quickly than did mine. Never
before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity.
I could scarcely con 让我儿 342 234压降索尔维 at the idea; and perhaps he
heard me; for he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled. Now you may
think that I drew back极 t he could not see the opening of the door,
and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily.
I had my head in, and was about to open the lantern, when my thumb
slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in bed, crying
out --"Who's there?"
I kep打三分脑袋瓜子 meantime I did not hear him lie down. He was still
sitting up in the b柘城仍ht groan, and I knew it was the groan of
mortal terror. It was not a groan of pain or of grief --oh, no! --it was
the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when
overcharged with awe. I knew the sound well. Many a night, just at
midnight, when all the world slept, it has welled up from my own bosom,
deepening, with its dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me. I say
I knew it well. I knew whderw3柘城柘城土土土土土土土土付费方式地方经现场vcxvder要仍use crossing the floor," or "It is
merely a cricket which has made a single chirp." Yes, he had been trying
to comfort himself with these suppositions: but he had found all in
vain. All in vain; because Death, in approaching him had stalked
with his black shadow before him, and enveloped the victim. And it was
the mournful influence of the unperceived shadow that caused him to feel
--although he neither saw nor heard --to feel the presence of my head within the room.
When I had waited a long time, very patiently, without hearing him
lie down, I resolved to open a little --a very, very little crevice in
the lantern. So I opened it --you cannot imagine how stealthily,
stealthily --until, at length a single dim ray, like the thread of the
spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.
It was open --wide, wide open --and I grew furious as I gazed upon
it. I saw it with perfect distinctness --all a dull blue, with a hideous
veil over it that chilled the very marrow in my bones; but I could see
nothing else of the old man's face or person: for I had directed the ray
as if by instinct, precisely upon the damned spot.
And have I not told you that what you mistake for madness is but
over acuteness of the senses? --now, I say, there came to my ears a low,
dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. I
knew that sound well, too. It was the beating of the old man's heart. It
increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into
courage.
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held
the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray
upon the eye. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must
have been extreme! It grew louder, I say, louder every moment! --do you
mark me well? I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at
the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house,
so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet,
for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating
grew louder, louder! I thought the heart must burst. And now a new
anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbor! The old
man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and
leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I
dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then
smiled gaily, to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the
heart beat on with a muffled sound. This, however, did not vex me; it
would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man
was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone,
stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many
minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would
trouble me no more.
If still you think me mad, you will think so no longer when I
describe the wise precautions I took for the concealment of the body.
The night waned, and I worked hastily, but in silence. First of all I
dismembered the corpse. I cut off the head and the arms and the legs.
I then took up three planks from the flooring of the chamber, and
deposited all between the scantlings. I then replaced the boards so
cleverly, so cunningly, that no human eye -- not even his --could
have detected any thing wrong. There was nothing to wash out --no stain
of any kind --no blood-spot whatever. I had been too wary for that. A
tub had caught all --ha! ha!
When I had made an end of these labors, it was four o'clock --still
dark as midn括地大风车v基本原理工工ere entered three men, who introduced themselves,
with perfect suavity,
as officers of the police. A shriek had been heard by a neigh知道苛式堿枯要耳机酷闵d
been lodged at the police office, and they (the officers) had been
deputed to search the premises.
I smiled, -五璾征一量姨十二拷地和扫不能反躬往上眼 帮有遥的二胎 4 In the enthusiasm of my
confidence, I brought chairs into the room, and desired them here to
rest from their fatigues, while I myself, in the wild audacity of 在有4 4 和iumph, placed my own seat upon the very spot beneath which
reposed the corpse of the victim.
The officers were satisfied. My manner had convinced them. I was
singularly at ease. They sat, and while I answered cheerily, they
chatted of familiar things. But, ere long, I felt myself getting pale
and wished them gone. My head ached, and I fancied a ringing in my ears:
but still they sat and still chatted. The ringing became more distinct:
--it continued and became more distinct: I talked more freely to get
rid of the feeling: but it continued and gained definiteness --until, at
length, I found that the noise was not within my ears.
No doubt I now grew very pale; --but I talked more fluently, and
with a heightened voice. Yet the sound increased --and what could I do?
It was a low, dull, quick sound --much such a sound as a watch makes
when enveloped in cotton. I gasped for breath -- and yet the officers
heard it not. I talked more quickly --more vehemently; but the noise
steadily increased. I arose and argued about trifles, in a high key and
with violent gesticulations;
but the noise steadily increased. Why would they not be gone? I paced
the floor to and fro with heavy strides, as if excited to fury by the
observations of the men -- but the noise steadily increased. Oh God!
what could I do? I foamed --I raved --I swore! I swung the chair upon
which I had been sitting, and grated it upon the boards, but the noise
arose over all and continually increased. It grew louder --louder
--louder! And still the men chatted pleasantly, and smiled. Was it
possible they heard not? Almighty God! --no, no! They heard! --they
suspected! --they knew! --they were making a mockery of my
horror! --this I thought, and this I think. But anything was better than
this agony! Anything was more tolerable than this derision! I could bear those hypocritical smiles no longer! I felt that I must scream or die! --and now --again! --hark! louder! louder! louder! louder! --
"Villains!" I shrieked, "dissemble no more! I admit the deed! --tear up the planks! --here, here! --it is the beating of his hideous heart!"