Answer:
In the story, the narrator repeatedly claims that he hears the old man's heart beat, and the sound of it appalls him. In fact, he associates the sound with the passage of time. low, dull, quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton. It was the beating of the old man's heart. This story starts off without hesitation: a nameless person explains that he is and was extremely nervous, but is not and was not insane. Instead of being nuttier than a fruitcake, the narrator claims he has a "disease" which makes all his senses especially his hearing which are super-sensitive.
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