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And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere humanity. Voice Reading
And a brute beast-whose fellow I had contemptuously destroyed-a brute beast to work out for me-for me, a man, fashioned in the image of the High God-so much of insufferable woe! Alas! neither by day nor by night knew I the blessing of rest any more! During the former the creature left me no moment alone; and, in the latter, I started, hourly, from dreams of unutterable fear, to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face, and its vast weight-an incarnate nightmare that I had no power to shake off-incumbent eternally upon my heart! Voice Reading
Beneath the pressure of torments such as these, the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Voice Reading
Evil thoughts became my sole intimates-the darkest and most evil of thoughts. Voice Reading
The moodiness of my usual temper increased to hatred of all things and of all mankind; while, from the sudden, frequent, and ungovernable outbursts of a fury to which I now blindly abandoned myself, my uncomplaining wife, alas! was the most usual and the most patient of sufferers. Voice Reading
One day she accompanied me, upon some household errand, into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. Voice Reading
The cat followed me down the steep stairs, and, nearly throwing me headlong, exasperated me to madness. Voice Reading
Uplifting an axe, and forgetting, in my wrath, the childish dread which had hitherto stayed my hand, I aimed a blow at the animal which, of course, would have proved instantly fatal had it descended as I wished. Voice Reading
But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Voice Reading
Goaded, by the interference, into a rage more than demoniacal, I withdrew my arm from her grasp, and buried the axe in her brain. Voice Reading
She fell dead upon the spot, without a groan. Voice Reading
This hideous murder accomplished, I set myself forthwith, and with entire deliberation, to the task of concealing the body. Voice Reading
I knew that I could not remove it from the house, either by day or by night, without the risk of being observed by the neighbours. Voice Reading
Many projects entered my mind. Voice Reading
At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments, and destroying them by fire. Voice Reading
At another, I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Voice Reading
Again, I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard-about packing it in a box, as if merchandise, with the usual arrangements, and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Voice Reading
Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. Voice Reading
I determined to wall it up in the cellar-as the monks of the Middle Ages recorded to have walled up their victims. Voice Reading
For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. Voice Reading
Its walls were loosely constructed, and had lately been plastered throughout with a rough plaster, which the dampness of the atmosphere had prevented from hardening. Voice Reading
Moreover, in one of the walls was a projection, caused by a false chimney, or fireplace, that had been filled up, and made to resemble the rest of the cellar. Voice Reading
I made no doubt that I could readily displace the bricks at this point, insert the corpse, and wall the whole up as before, so that no eye could detect anything suspicious. Voice Reading
And in this calculation I was not deceived. Voice Reading
By means of a crowbar I easily dislodged the bricks, and, having carefully deposited the body against the inner wall, I propped it in that position, while, with little trouble, I relaid the whole structure as it originally stood. Voice Reading

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