The Telltale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe 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 harken and observe how healthily how calmly I can tell you this whole story it is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain but once conceived it haunte
d me day and night object there was none passion there was none I love the old man he had never wronged me he had never given me insult or 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 madman know nothing but you s
hould 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 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 made an opening sufficient for my head I put in a dark lantern all closed closed that no light shown out and then I thrust in my head oh you would have laughed to see how cunningl
y 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 huh 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 Crete 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 nigh
t 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 is past the night so you see he would have been a very profound old man indeed to suspect that every night just at 12 I looked in upon him while he slept upon the eighth night I was more than us
ually cautious in opening the door a watches minute hand moves more quickly than did mine never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers of my segacity 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 or he moved on the bed suddenly as it startled now you may think that I drew back but no his room was as black as
pitch with the thick darkness but the shutters were closed 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 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 it was still sitting up in t
he bed listening just as I have done night after night harkening 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 grown of pain or of grief oh no it was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with all I knew the sound well many at 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 distract me I say I k
new 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 is 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 never 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 im
agine how stealthily stealthily until it length a simple dim ray like the thread of a 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 sense now I say there come 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 theory 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 and noises 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 burs
t and now a new anxiety sees 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 gayly 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 remove the be
d and examine the corpse yes he was stone stone dead I placed my hand upon the hard and held it there many minutes there was no pulsation he was stone dead is I would trouble me no more if you still 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 in the arms and the legs I then took up three planks from the flooring of t
he chamber and deposited all between the scantlings and then replace the board so cleverly so cunningly that no human eye not even his could have detected anything 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 haha when I had made an end of these labors it was 4:00 still dark as midnight as the bell sounded the hour there came a knocking at the street door I went down to open it with a light heart for what had I
now to fear there entered three men who introduce themselves with perfect swavity as officers of the police a shriek had been heard by a neighbor during the night suspicion of foul play had been aroused information had been lodged at the police office and they the officers had been deputed to search the premises I smiled for what had I to fear I bathe the gentleman welcome the shriek I said was my own in a dream the old man I mentioned was absent in the country I took my visitors all over the ho
use I bathe them search search well I LED them at length to his chamber I showed them his treasures secure undisturbed 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 my perfect triumph 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 surely the
y chatted a familiar things but air long I felt myself getting pale and wish them gone my headaches 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 that 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 if the sound increas
ed and what could I do it was a low dull quick sound much such as 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 and 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 paste the floor too and fro with heavy strides as if excited to fury by the observations of the men but the noise st
eadily increased oh god what could I do I foamed I raved I swore I swung the chair upon which I had been sitting and graded 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
Comments
A beautiful story to listen and relax nice colection