Well, there is not much to really explain. That quote is kind of "self-explanatory," but I will do my best:
At this point in the story the man cannot take it any more. The beating of the heart (really the phantom beating in his own mind) is driving him up the wall. He realizes that he cannot live like this...it would lead to madness. He must admit his dead to the authorities in order to stop the beating.
Of course, the beating is really his own guilty conscience. This man must not have the true "heart of a murderer" because he can't live with the guilt. Of course, he probably wouldn't see it that way, believing the beating to be a phantom presence and not a psychological phenomenon.
I suppose you could make an argument that the beating actually was spectral, limited only to him, and that it wasn't his conscience forcing himself to admit guilt but rather that onslaught of some paranormal force driving him mad. That would probably make it a better horror story, but not a better story overall. In its incarnation about guilt it provides much more "food for thought."
I take it back...I guess there was more to say about this line than I thought! Kudos!
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