The Tell-Tale Heart

Above all was the sense of hearing acute.

It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain; but once conceived, it haunted me day and night.

He had the eye of a vulture --a pale blue eye, with a film over it.

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work!

You should have seen how wisely I proceeded --with what caution --with what foresight --with what dissimulation I went to work!

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.

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.

Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers --of my sagacity.

I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph.

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.

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.

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 simple dim ray, like the thread of the spider, shot from out the crevice and fell full upon the vulture eye.

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.

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.

It increased my fury, as the beating of a drum stimulates the soldier into courage.

But even yet I refrained and kept still.

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.

I had been too wary for that.

There entered three men, who introduced themselves, with perfect suavity, as officers of the police.

A shriek had been heard by a neighbour 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.

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.

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.

My manner had convinced them.

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.

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.

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!

"Villains!"