Reread paragraph 11, then answer the question below:
But even yet I refrained and kept still. I scarcely breathed. I held the lantern motionless. I tried how steadily I could maintain the ray upon the eve. Meantime the hellish tattoo of the heart increased. It grew quicker and quicker, and louder and louder every instant. The old man's terror must have been extreme! It grew louder, I say. louder every moment! --do you mark me well I have told you that I am nervous: so I am. And now at the dead hour of the night, amid the dreadful silence of that old house, so strange a noise as this excited me to uncontrollable terror. Yet, for some minutes longer I refrained and stood still. But the beating grew louder, louder!
I thought the heart must burst. And now a new anxiety seized me --the sound would be heard by a neighbour!
The old man's hour had come! With a loud yell, I threw open the lantern and leaped into the room. He shrieked once --once only. In an instant I dragged him to the floor, and pulled the heavy bed over him. I then smiled gaily. to find the deed so far done. But, for many minutes, the heart beat on with a muffied sound. This, however, did not vex me; it would not be heard through the wall. At length it ceased. The old man was dead. I removed the bed and examined the corpse. Yes, he was stone, stone dead. I placed my hand upon the heart and held it there many minutes. There was no pulsation. He was stone dead. His eye would trouble me no more.
In paragraph 11 (above), the narrator describes hearing a beating heart. How does the sound of the old man's heart beat affect the narrator?
• It frightens the narrator and drives him from the room.
• It helps the narrator realize that he does not want to kill the old man.
• It further encourages the narrator to silence the old man's heartbeat.
• It confuses the narrator because he is not close enough to be able to hear it.