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Beauty and The Beast-Part33_Bayard Taylor(1825-1878)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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hearers. There was an intense hush, as if in truth the Spirit had



moved him to speak, and every sentence was armed with a sacred

authority. Asenath Mitchenor looked at him, over the low partition



which divided her and her sisters from the men's side, absorbed in

his rapt earnestness and truth. She forgot that other hearers



were present: he spake to her alone. A strange spell seemed to

seize upon her faculties and chain them at his feet: had he



beckoned to her, she would have arisen and walked to his side.

Friend Carter warmed and deepened as he went on. "I feel moved to-



day," he said,--"moved, I know not why, but I hope for some wise

purpose,--to relate to you an instance of Divine and human kindness



which has come directly to my own knowledge. A young man of

delicate constitution, whose lungs were thought to be seriously



affected, was sent to the house of a Friend in the country, in

order to try the effect of air and exercise."



Asenath almost ceased to breathe, in the intensity with which she

gazed and listened. Clasping her hands tightly in her lap to



prevent them from trembling, and steadying herself against the back

of the seat, she heard the story of her love for Richard Hilton



told by the lips of a stranger!--not merely of his dismissal from

the house, but of that meeting in the street, at which only she and



her father were present! Nay, more, she heard her own words

repeated, she heard Richard's passionateoutburst of remorse



described in language that brought his living face before her! She

gasped for breath--his face WAS before her! The features,



sharpened by despairing grief, which her memory recalled, had

almost anticipated the harder lines which fifteen years had made,



and which now, with a terrible shock and choking leap of the heart,

she recognized. Her senses faded, and she would have fallen



from her seat but for the support of the partition against

which she leaned. Fortunately, the women near her were too much



occupied with the narrative to notice her condition. Many of them

wept silently, with their handkerchiefs pressed over their mouths.



The first shock of death-like faintness passed away, and she clung

to the speaker's voice, as if its sound alone could give her



strength to sit still and listen further.

"Deserted by his friends, unable to stay his feet on the evil



path," he continued, "the young man left his home and went to a

city in another State. But here it was easier to find associates



in evil than tender hearts that might help him back to good. He

was tired of life, and the hope of a speedier death hardened him in



his courses. But, my friends, Death never comes to those who

wickedly seek him. The Lord withholds destruction from the hands



that are madly outstretched to grasp it, and forces His pity and

forgiveness on the unwilling soul. Finding that it was the



principle of LIFE which grew stronger within him, the young man

at last meditated an awful crime. The thought of self-destruction



haunted him day and night. He lingered around the wharves, gazing

into the deep waters, and was restrained from the deed only by the



memory of the last loving voice he had heard. One gloomy evening,

when even this memory had faded, and he awaited the approaching



darkness to make his design secure, a hand was laid on his arm. A

man in the simple garb of the Friends stood beside him, and a face



which reflected the kindness of the Divine Father looked upon

him. `My child,' said he, `I am drawn to thee by the great trouble



of thy mind. Shall I tell thee what it is thee meditates?' The

young man shook his head. `I will be silent, then, but I will save



thee. I know the human heart, and its trials and weaknesses, and

it may be put into my mouth to give thee strength.' He took the



young man's hand, as if he had been a little child, and led him to

his home. He heard the sad story, from beginning to end; and the



young man wept upon his breast, to hear no word of reproach, but

only the largest and tenderest pity bestowed upon him. They knelt



down, side by side, at midnight; and the Friend's right hand was

upon his head while they prayed.






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