e 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 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 spot.

Now, 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 could 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 removed the bed and examined the corpse. 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 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 then took up three planks from the flooring of the cha