After a week, Roderick announces that Madeline is dead and that he needs assistance in burying her. The narrator agrees to help and they take her body, in a coffin, into a tomb that lies beneath the room in which the narrator has been sleeping. They view Madeline's body, noting the slight smile on her face and the blush on her cheeks, "Usual in all maladies of a strictly cataleptical character." They screw the lid tightly onto the coffin and close and seal a large iron door to the tomb.

During the next several days, Roderick's demeanor changes. He becomes more restless and his visage becomes more pallid. His voice grows more tremulous and he seems to be hiding some deep secret by his peculiar speech.

About the eighth day, the narrator experiences an intense fear and dread. He rationalizes it away by believing that...