第 4 节
作者:
冥王 更新:2021-02-20 16:40 字数:3331
the secret guilt of others; both in deed and thought; than they
could now be of their own。 The husband cast one look at his pale
wife; and Faith at him。 What polluted wretches would the next
glance show them to each other; shuddering alike at what they
disclosed and what they saw!
〃Faith! Faith!〃 cried the husband; 〃look up to heaven; and resist
the wicked one。〃
Whether Faith obeyed he knew not。 Hardly had he spoken when he
found himself amid calm night and solitude; listening to a roar
of the wind which died heavily away through the forest。 He
staggered against the rock; and felt it chill and damp; while a
hanging twig; that had been all on fire; besprinkled his cheek
with the coldest dew。
The next morning young Goodman Brown came slowly into the street
of Salem village; staring around him like a bewildered man。 The
good old minister was taking a walk along the graveyard to get an
appetite for breakfast and meditate his sermon; and bestowed a
blessing; as he passed; on Goodman Brown。 He shrank from the
venerable saint as if to avoid an anathema。 Old Deacon Gookin was
at domestic worship; and the holy words of his prayer were heard
through the open window。 〃What God doth the wizard pray to?〃
quoth Goodman Brown。 Goody Cloyse; that excellent old Christian;
stood in the early sunshine at her own lattice; catechizing a
little girl who had brought her a pint of morning's milk。 Goodman
Brown snatched away the child as from the grasp of the fiend
himself。 Turning the corner by the meeting…house; he spied the
head of Faith; with the pink ribbons; gazing anxiously forth; and
bursting into such joy at sight of him that she skipped along the
street and almost kissed her husband before the whole village。
But Goodman Brown looked sternly and sadly into her face; and
passed on without a greeting。
Had Goodman Brown fallen asleep in the forest and only dreamed a
wild dream of a witch…meeting?
Be it so if you will; but; alas! it was a dream of evil omen for
young Goodman Brown。 A stern; a sad; a darkly meditative; a
distrustful; if not a desperate man did he become from the night
of that fearful dream。 On the Sabbath day; when the congregation
were singing a holy psalm; he could not listen because an anthem
of sin rushed loudly upon his ear and drowned all the blessed
strain。 When the minister spoke from the pulpit with power and
fervid eloquence; and; with his hand on the open Bible; of the
sacred truths of our religion; and of saint…like lives and
triumphant deaths; and of future bliss or misery unutterable;
then did Goodman Brown turn pale; dreading lest the roof should
thunder down upon the gray blasphemer and his hearers。 Often;
waking suddenly at midnight; he shrank from the bosom of Faith;
and at morning or eventide; when the family knelt down at prayer;
he scowled and muttered to himself; and gazed sternly at his
wife; and turned away。 And when he had lived long; and was borne
to his grave a hoary corpse; followed by Faith; an aged woman;
and children and grandchildren; a goodly procession; besides
neighbors not a few; they carved no hopeful verse upon his
tombstone; for his dying hour was gloom。