Evening star., 1927-10-18
WORLD FAMOUS STORIES
TuE TEII TALE HEART
BY EDGAR ALLAN POE

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 ne
moved on the bed suddenly. as II
startled. Now yon 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 l
knew that he could not see the opening
of the door, and l kept pushing 1t on
steadily, steadily.
/ had my head in, and was about
to open the lantern, when my thumb
| slipped on the fastening and the old
man sprang up in bed, crying out:
who's there?" / kept quite still; for
| a whole hour 1 did not move a muscle
| and in the meantime I did not hear
him lie down. He was still sitting up
in bed listening
Presently heard slight groan, and
I knew it was the groan Of mortal ter
ror. / knew that he had been lyiNg
awake ever since the first slight noise;
his fears had been ever since growing
upon him. He had been trying to COM
fort himself with believing the noise
of no consequence, but all in vain
for Death had caused him, though he
neither saw nor heard, to feel the pres
ence of my head in the room.
After a long time, / opened tiny
crack in the lantern, stealthily-
finally. a single dim ray, like the
thread of a spider, shot from out the
crevice and full upon the vulture eye.
1t was open, wide open, and / grew
furious as + gazed upon it. I saw 1t
with perfect distinctness. And now
have I not told you that what you
mistake for madness is but an over.
acuteness of the senses?-now, / say,
there came to my ears a low, dull.
quick sound, such as a watch makes
when enveloped in cotton. knew
that sound well, too. It was the beat
ing of the old mans heart. 1t in
creased my fury, as the beating of
drum stimulates the soldier into
courage.
The hellish tattoo of the heart in
creased. 1t grew quicker and quicker,
and louder and louder every instant.
The old mans terror must have been
extremei It grew louder--I have told
you / am nervous, and so l am. And
now at the dead hour Of night, amid
the dreadful silence of that old house,
so strange a noise as this excited me
to uncomfortable terror. The beating
grew louder, louder! l thought the
heart must burst. Now new anxiety
seized me-the sound would be heard
by a neighbor! The old mans hour
had come! With a loud yell, / threw
open the lantern and leaped into the
room. He shrieked once-once only.
In an instant 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 min.
utes the heart beat on with a muffied
sound. At length it ceased. The old
man was dead, stone dead. felt his
heart--there was no pulsation. His
eye would trouble me no more.
| The night waned. 1 dismembered
the corpse. I took up three planks
from the chamber flooring, deposited
all between the scantlings. I replaced
the boards so cleverly, so cunningly,
that no human eye-not even his
could have detected anything wrong.
| No stain, nothing.
When had finished the clock struc.;
4. There came a knocking at the
street door. 1t was the police-neigh'