inquired some . They looked for the signs of death at every door -- the sexton , the hearse , the assemblage of black-clad relatives , all that makes up the woeful pomp of funerals . They raised their eyes , also , to the sun-gilt spire of the church , and wondered that no clang proceeded from its bell , which had always tolled till now when this figure appeared in the light of day . But none had heard that a corpse was to be borne to its home that afternoon , nor was there any token of a funeral except the apparition of the Old Maid in the Winding-Sheet . `` What may this portend ? '' asked each man of his neighbor . All smiled as they put the question , yet with a certain trouble in their eyes , as if pestilence , or some other wide calamity , were prognosticated by the untimely intrusion among the living of one whose presence had always been associated with death and woe . What a comet is to the earth was that sad woman to the town . Still she moved on , while the hum of surprise was hushed at her approach , and the proud and the humble stood aside that her white garment might not wave against them . It was a long , loose robe of spotless purity . Its wearer appeared very old , pale , emaciated and feeble , yet glided onward without the unsteady pace of extreme age . At one point of her course a little rosy boy burst forth from a door and ran with open arms toward the ghostly woman , seeming to expect a kiss from her bloodless lips . She made a slight pause , fixing her eye upon him with an expression of no earthly sweetness , so that the child shivered and stood awestruck rather than affrighted while the Old Maid passed on . Perhaps her garment might have been polluted even by an infant 's touch ; perhaps her kiss would have been death to the sweet boy within the year . `` She is but a shadow , '' whispered the superstitious . `` The child put forth his arms and could not grasp her robe . '' The wonder was increased when the Old Maid passed beneath the porch of the deserted mansion , ascended the moss-covered steps , lifted the iron knocker and gave three raps . The people could only conjecture that some old remembrance , troubling her bewildered brain , had impelled the poor woman hither to visit the friends of her youth -- all gone from their home long since and for ever unless their ghosts still haunted it , fit company for the Old Maid in the Winding-Sheet . An elderly man approached the steps , and , reverently uncovering his gray locks , essayed to explain the matter . `` None , madam , '' said he , `` have dwelt in this house these fifteen years agone -- no , not since the death of old Colonel Fenwicke , whose funeral you may remember to have followed .
His heirs , being ill-agreed among themselves , have let the mansion-house go XXXXX ruin . ''
as at by except from to toward unless while within