The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Several Works by Edgar Allan Poe: And thus too, it happened, perhaps, that before the last echoes of
the last chime had utterly sunk into silence, there were many
individuals in the crowd who had found leisure to become aware of
the presence of a masked figure which had arrested the
attention of no single individual before. And the rumour of this
new presence having spread itself whisperingly around, there arose
at length from the whole company a buzz, or murmur, expressive of
disapprobation and surprise--then, finally, of terror, of horror,
and of disgust.
In an assembly of phantasms such as I have painted, it may
well be supposed that no ordinary appearance could have excited
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