The Black Cat (2)

But, as the weeks passed, I began to dislike the animal more and more. I do not know why, but I hated the way he loved me. Soon, I began to hate him—but I was never unkind¹ to him. Yes, I was very careful about that. I kept away from him because I remembered what I did to my poor Pluto². I also hated the animal because he only had one eye. I noticed this the morning after he came home with me. Of course, this only made my dear wife love him more!
    But the more I hated the cat, the more he seemed to love me. He followed me everywhere, getting under my feet all the time. When I sat down, he always sat under my chair. Often he tried to jump up on my knees. I wanted to murder him when he did this, but I did not. I stopped myself because I remembered Pluto, but also because I was afraid of the animal.
    How can I explain this fear? It was not really a fear of something evil³ . . . but then how else can I possibly describe it? Slowly, this strange fear grew into horror⁴. Yes, horror. If I tell you why, you will not believe me. You will think I am mad.
    Several times, my wife took the cat and showed me the white shape on his chest⁵. She said the shape was slowly changing. For a long time I did not believe her, but slowly, after many weeks, I began to see that she was right. The shape was changing. Its sides were becoming straighter and straighter. It was beginning to look more and more like an object⁶ . . . After a few more weeks, I saw what the shape was. It was impossible not to see! There, on his front, was the shape of an object I am almost too afraid to name ... It was that terrible machine of pain and death—yes, the GALLOWS⁷绞刑架! (gallows - The place where criminals⁸ are hanged.) I no longer knew the meaning of happiness⁹, or rest. During the day, the animal never left me. At night he woke me up nearly every hour. I remember waking from terrible dreams and feeling him sitting next to my face, his heavy body pressing down on my heart!
    I was now a very different man. There was not the smallest piece of good left in me. I now had only evil thoughts—the darkest and the most evil thoughts. I hated everyone and everything, my dear wife too.
    One day she came down into the cellar地窖 with me to cut some wood (we were now too poor to have a servant). Of course, the cat followed me down the stairs and nearly made me fall. This made me so angry, that I took the axe¹¹ and tried to cut the animal in two. But as I brought the axe down, my wife stopped my arm with her hand. This made me even more angry, and I pulled her hand away from my wrist¹², lifted the tool again, brought it down hard and buried¹³ it in the top of her head.
    I had to hide the body. I knew I could not take it out of the house. The neighbours¹⁴ noticed everything. I thought of cutting it into pieces and burning it. I thought of burying¹⁵ it in the floor of the cellar¹⁰. I thought of throwing it into the river at the end of the garden. I thought of putting it into a wooden box and taking it out of the house that way. In the end, I decided¹⁶ to hide the body in one of the walls of the cellar.
    It was quite an old building, near the river, so the walls of the cellar were quite wet and the plaster¹⁷ was soft. There was new plaster on one of the walls, and I knew that underneath¹⁸ it the wall was not very strong. I also knew that this wall was very thick. I could hide the body in the middle of it.
    It was not difficult. I took off some plaster灰泥，石膏, took out a few stones and made a hole in the earth that filled the middle of the wall. I put my wife there, put back the stones, made some new plaster and put it on the wall. Then I cleaned the floor, and looked carefully round. Everything looked just as it did before. Nobody would ever know.
    Next, I went upstairs to kill the cat. The animal was bringing me bad luck. I had to kill it. I searched everywhere, but I could not find him. I was sure it was because of my wife's murder; he was too clever to come near me now.
    I waited all evening, but I did not see the evil animal. He did not come back during the night either. And so, for the first time in a long time, I slept well. When I woke up the next morning, I was surprised to see that the cat still was not there. Two, three days passed, and there was still no cat. I cannot tell you how happy I began to feel. I felt so much better without the cat. Yes, it was he who brought me all my unhappiness. And now, without him, I began to feel like a free man again. It was wonderful—no more cat! Never again!
    Several people came and asked about my wife, but I answered their questions easily. Then, on the fourth day, the police came. I was not worried when they searched the house. They asked me to come with them as they searched. They looked everywhere, several times. Then they went down into the cellar. I went down with them, of course. I was not a bit一点也不，丝毫不 afraid. I walked calmly up and down, watching them search.
    They found nothing, of course, and soon they were ready to go. I was so happy that I could not stop talking as they went up the stairs. I did not really know what I was saying. 'Good day to you all, dear sirs.' I said. 'Yes, this is a well-built old house, isn't it? Yes, a very well-built old house. These walls—are you going, gentlemen? — these walls are strong, aren't they?' I knocked hard on the part of the wall where my wife was.
    A voice came from inside the wall, in answer to my knock. It was a cry, like a child's. Quickly, it grew into a long scream¹⁹ of pain and horror. I saw the policemen standing²⁰ on the stairs with their mouths open. Suddenly, they all ran down in a great hurry and began breaking down the wall. It fell quickly, and there was my wife, standing inside. There she was, with dried blood all over her head, looking at them. And there was the cat, standing on her head, his red mouth wide open in a scream, and his one gold eye shining like fire. The clever animal! My wife was dead because of him, and now his evil voice was sending me to the gallows.