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¡¡¡¡¡¶Ó¢ÃÀ¶ÌƪС˵½âÎö¡·£º¡¡¡¡Thiscircumstance£¬ however£¬ only endeared it to my wife£¬ who£¬ as I have already said£¬possessed£¬ in a high degree£¬ that humanity of feeling which had once been mydistinguishing trait£¬ and the source of many of my simplest and purest pleasures.¡¡¡¡With my aversion20 to this cat£¬ however£¬ its partiality for myself seemed to increase.It followed my footsteps with a pertinacity21 which it would be difficult to make the readercomprehend. Whenever I sat£¬ it would crouch beneath my chair£¬ or spring upon myknees£¬ covering me with its loathsome caresses. If I arose to walk it would get betweenmy feet and thus nearly throw me down£¬ or£¬ fastening its long and sharp claws in my¡¡¡¡dress£¬ clamber£¬ in this manner£¬ to my breast. At such times£¬ although I longed to destroyit with a blow£¬ I was yet withheld from so doing£¬ partly it at by a memory of my formercrime£¬ but chiefly-let me confess it at once-by absolute dread of the beast.¡¡¡¡This dread was not exactly a dread of physical evil-and yet I should be at a loss howotherwise to define it. I am almost ashamed to own-yes£¬ even in this felon's cell£¬ I amalmost ashamed to own-that the terror and horror with which the animal inspired me£¬had been heightened by one of the merest chimaeras22 it would be possible to conceive. Mywife had called my attention£¬ more than once£¬ to the character of the mark of white hair£¬of which I have spoken£¬ and which constituted the sole visible difference between thestrange beast and the one I had destroyed. The reader will remember that this mark£¬although large£¬ had been originally very indefinite£» but£¬ by slow degrees-degrees nearlyimperceptible£¬ and which for a long time my Reason struggled to reject as fanciful-ithad£¬ at length£¬ assumed a rigorous distinctness of outline. It was now the representation of an object that I shudder to name-and for tlus£¬ above all£¬ I loathed£¬ and dreaded£¬ andwould have rid myself of the monster had I dared-it was now£¬ I say£¬ the image of ahideous-of a ghastly thing-of the GALLOWS! -oh£¬ mournful and terrible engine ofHorror and of Crime-of Agony and of Death!¡¡¡¡And now was I indeed wretched beyond the wretchedness of mere Humanity. 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 wo!¡¡¡¡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 dreamsof unutterable fear£¬ to find the hot breath of the thing upon my face£¬ and its vast weight-an incamate Night-Mare that I had no power to shake off-incumbent eternally upon my heart!¡¡¡¡Beneath the pressure of torments such as these£¬ the feeble remnant of the good within me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my sole intimates-the darkest and most evil of thoughts. 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.¡¡¡¡One day she accompanied me£¬ upon some household errand£¬ into the cellar of the old building which our poverty compelled us to inhabit. The cat followed me down the steep stairs£¬ and£¬ nearly throwing me headlong£¬ exasperated me to madness. 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. But this blow was arrested by the hand of my wife. Goaded£¬ by the interference£¬ into a rage more than demoniacal25 £¬ I withdrew my arm from her grasp and buried the axe in her brain. She fell dead upon the spot£¬ without a groan.¡¡¡¡This hideous murder accomplished£¬ I set myself forthwith£¬ and with entire deliberation£¬ to the task of concealing the body. 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 neighbors.¡¡¡¡Many projects entered my mind. At one period I thought of cutting the corpse into minute fragments£¬ and destroying them by fire. At another£¬ I resolved to dig a grave for it in the floor of the cellar. Again£¬ I deliberated about casting it in the well in the yard-about¡¡¡¡packing it in a box£¬ as if merchandize£¬ with the usual arrangements£¬ and so getting a porter to take it from the house. Finally I hit upon what I considered a far better expedient than either of these. I determined to wall it up in the cellar-as the monks of the middle ages are recorded to have walled up their victims.¡¡¡¡For a purpose such as this the cellar was well adapted. 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. 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. I made no doubt that I could readily displace the at this point£¬ insert the corpse£¬ and wall the whole up as before£¬ so that no eye could detect anything suspicious.¡¡¡¡¡­¡­