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 to ruin . '' The Old Maid looked slowly round with a slight gesture of one hand and a finger of the other upon her lip , appearing more shadow-like than ever in the obscurity of the porch . But again she lifted the hammer , and gave , this time , a single rap . Could it be that a footstep was now heard coming down the staircase of the old mansion which all conceived to have been so long untenanted ? Slowly , feebly , yet heavily , like the pace of an aged and infirm person , the step approached , more distinct on every downward stair , till it reached the portal . The bar fell on the inside ; the door was opened . One upward glance toward the church-spire , whence the sunshine had just faded , was the last that the people saw of the Old Maid in the Winding-Sheet . `` Who undid the door ? '' asked many . This question , owing to the depth of shadow beneath the porch , no one could satisfactorily answer . Two or three aged men , while protesting against an inference which might be drawn , affirmed that the person within was a negro and bore a singular resemblance to old Cæsar , formerly a slave in the house , but freed by death some thirty years before . `` Her summons has waked up a servant of the old family , '' said one , half seriously . `` Let us wait here , '' replied another ; `` more guests will knock at the door anon .
But the gate XXXXX the graveyard should be thrown open . ''
for like of than that till to unless upon with