But at once the whole multitude started , and each man beheld his own terror painted in the faces of all the rest . `` What an awful thing is this ! '' cried they . A shriek too fearfully distinct for doubt had been heard within the mansion , breaking forth suddenly and succeeded by a deep stillness , as if a heart had burst in giving it utterance . The people knew not whether to fly from the very sight of the house or to rush trembling in and search out the strange mystery . Amid their confusion and affright they were somewhat reassured by the appearance of their clergyman , a venerable patriarch , and equally a saint , who had taught them and their fathers the way to heaven for more than the space of an ordinary lifetime . He was a reverend figure with long white hair upon his shoulders , a white beard upon his breast and a back so bent over his staff that he seemed to be looking downward continually , as if to choose a proper grave for his weary frame . It was some time before the good old man , being deaf and of impaired intellect , could be made to comprehend such portions of the affair as were comprehensible at all . But when possessed of the facts , his energies assumed unexpected vigor . `` Verily , '' said the old gentleman , `` it will be fitting that I enter the mansion-house of the worthy Colonel Fenwicke , lest any harm should have befallen that true Christian woman whom ye call the ` Old Maid in the Winding-Sheet . ' '' Behold , then , the venerable clergyman ascending the steps of the mansion with a torch-bearer behind him . It was the elderly man who had spoken to the Old Maid , and the same who had afterward explained the shield of arms and recognized the features of the negro . Like their predecessors , they gave three raps with the iron hammer . `` Old Cæsar cometh not , '' observed the priest . `` Well , I wot he no longer doth service in this mansion . '' `` Assuredly , then , it was something worse in old Cæsar 's likeness , '' said the other adventurer . `` Be it as God wills , '' answered the clergyman . `` See ! my strength , though it be much decayed , hath sufficed to open this heavy door . Let us enter and pass up the staircase . ''
Here occurred a singular exemplification of the dreamy state XXXXX a very old man 's mind .
Like at by for of over that though to with