"Gentlemen," I said at last, as the party ascended the steps, "I delight to have allayed your suspicions. I wish you all health, and a little more courtesy. By the bye, gentlemen, this - this is a very well constructed house." [In the rabid desire to say something easily, I scarcely knew what I uttered at all.] - "I may say an excellently well constructed house. These walls are you going, gentlemen? - these walls are solidly put together;" and here, through the mere phrenzy of bravado, I rapped heavily, with a cane which I held in my hand, upon that very portion of the brick-work behind which stood the corpse of the wife of my bosom.

But may God shield and deliver me from the fangs of the Arch-Fiend! No sooner had the reverberation of my blows sunk into silence, than I was answered by a voice from within the tomb! - by a cry, at first muffled and broken, like the sobbing of a child, and then quickly swelling into one long, loud, and continuous scream, utterly anomalous and inhuman - a howl - a wailing shriek, half of horror and half of triumph, such as might have arisen only out of hell, conjointly from the throats of the dammed in their agony and of the demons that exult in the damnation.

Of my own thoughts it is folly to speak. Swooning, I staggered to the opposite wall. For one instant the party upon the stairs remained motionless, through extremity of terror and of awe. In the next, a dozen stout arms were toiling at the wall. It fell bodily. The corpse, already greatly decayed and clotted with gore, stood erect before the eyes of the spectators. Upon its head, with red extended mouth and solitary eye of fire, sat the hideous beast whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman. I had walled the monster up within the tomb!

portion [´pɔ:ʃən]   n.嫁妆；命运 vt.分配   (初中英语单词)

shield [ʃi:ld]   n.盾牌；防御 v.保护   (初中英语单词)

continuous [kən´tinjuəs]   a.连续不断的；延长的   (初中英语单词)

scream [skri:m]   v.&n.尖叫(声)   (初中英语单词)

shriek [ʃri:k]   v.&n.尖叫(声)   (初中英语单词)

horror [´hɔrə]   n.恐怖；战栗   (初中英语单词)

triumph [´traiəmf]   n.胜利 vi.得胜，战胜   (初中英语单词)

instant [´instənt]   a.立即的 n.紧迫；瞬间   (初中英语单词)

terror [´terə]   n.恐怖；惊骇   (初中英语单词)

monster [´mɔnstə]   n.怪物 a.大得异常的   (初中英语单词)

courtesy [´kə:tisi]   n.礼貌；殷勤；好意   (高中英语单词)

motionless [´məuʃənləs]   a.静止的；固定的   (高中英语单词)

extremity [ik´stremiti]   n.末端；危机   (高中英语单词)

solitary [´sɔlitəri]   a.独居的；孤独的   (高中英语单词)

hideous [´hidiəs]   a.丑陋的，可怕的   (高中英语单词)

corpse [kɔ:ps]   n.尸体   (英语四级单词)

arisen [ə´rizn]   arise的过去分词   (英语四级单词)

bodily [´bɔdili]   a.身体的 ad.亲自   (英语四级单词)

extended [iks´tendid]   a.伸长的；广大的   (英语六级单词)