THE TELL-TALE HEART by EDGAR ALLAN POE
The Tell-Tale Heart.
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!
One of his eyes resembled that
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 for ever.
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 eye always closed and so,
it was impossible to do the work for it, was not the
old man who vexed me but his Evil Eye And every.
morning when the, day broke I went, boldly into
the chamber and spoke courageously to him calling
him, by name in a hearty tone and inquiring, how he-
had passed the night So you see.
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 cautious in opening the
door A watch's minute hand.
moves more quickly
than did mine Never before that night.
had
I felt the extent of my own powers of my sagacity
I, could scarcely contain.
my feelings of triumph
To think that there.
I was opening the door little
by little and he not even, to dream of my secret
deeds or thoughts I fairly chuckled 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 but no His room -- was as.
black as
pitch with the thick darkness for the shutters were (close
fastened through fear of robbers and so I
knew), that 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 the bed crying out Who's there I, kept
quite, "still and?"
said nothing For a whole hour I.
did not move
a muscle and in the meantime I, did not hear him
lie down He was still sitting up.
in the bed listening
just as I have, done;
night after night hearkening to the
death watches in the wall Presently I heard a
slight.
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 what the old man.
felt and pitied him although
I chuckled, at heart I knew that he had
been.
lying awake ever since the first slight noise when
he had turned in the bed His fears had been
ever since.
growing upon him He had been trying
to fancy.
them causeless but could not He had
been, saying to himself.
It is nothing but the
wind, "in the chimney it is only a mouse crossing,
the floor or It is merely a cricket," which, "has made a
single chirp Yes he has 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 out from the crevice and
fell 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.
now 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 neighbour 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 ...
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