And this I did for seven long nights - every night just at midnight Single thin ray fell upon the vulture eye. The lantern cautiously - oh, so cautiously (for the hinges creaked) - I undid it just so much that a Ha! - would a madman have been so wise as this? And then, when my head was well in the room, I undid It took me an hour to place my whole head within the opening so far that I could see the old man as he lay upon Oh, you would have laughed to see howĬunningly I thrust it in! I moved it slowly - very, very slowly, so that I might not disturb the old man's

It - oh so gently! And then, when I had made an opening sufficient for my head, I first put in a dark lantern,Īll closed, closed, so that no light shone out, and then I thrust in my head.

And every night, about midnight, I turned the latch of his door and opened with what foresight - with what dissimulation I went to work! I was never kinder to the old man thanĭuring the whole week before I killed him. You should have seen how wisely I proceeded - with what caution very gradually - I made up my mind to take the life of the old man, and thus rid myself of the eye Whenever it fell upon me, my blood ran cold and so, by degrees Vulture - a pale blue eye, with a film over it. I think it was his eye! - yes, it was this! He had the eye of a It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain but, once conceived, it haunted me dayĪnd night. How, then, am I mad? Harken! and observe how healthily - how calmly I can tell you the I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth.

Above all was the sense of hearing acute. T RUE! - nervous - very, very dreadfully nervous I had been,Īnd am but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses - not destroyed.

The tell tale heart annotated