All at once he heard distinctly a faint cry, as though someone had uttered a low broken moan.

And it seemed to him all at once that he was turned to stone, that it was like a dream in which one is being pursued, nearly caught and will be killed, and is rooted to the spot and cannot even move one's arms.

While they were knocking and talking together, the idea several times occurred to him to end it all at once and shout to them through the door.