那是一个盛夏的夜晚，风平浪静，风平浪静，二十四名快乐的男孩蹦蹦跳跳地走出学校，有的在跑，有的在跳，就像池塘里的鳟鱼。他们带着勇敢的头脑和未受罪恶影响的灵魂疾驰而去;他们来到一片平坦的草地上，在那里，他们把三柱球打入了球门。夕阳愉快地照耀着林恩镇。他们像嬉闹的小鹿一样四处奔跑，边跑边喊，——把世间万物都变成欢乐，只有童年才能做到;但执达吏远离众人，是个忧郁的人!他脱下了帽子，解开了背心，去捕捉上天赐予的清风;因为他的额头上有一种燃烧的念头，他的胸中不安:于是他双手托着头，跪在地上读那本书!他一页又一页地翻看，眼睛也不移开，为了心灵的安宁，他在金色的黄昏里读着那本书:读书太多，使他变得消瘦，脸色苍白，两眼铅灰色。最后，他关上了池塘的大门，紧紧地抓紧了那黑漆漆的盖子，把铜搭扣固定好;“哦,上帝! could I so close my mind, And clasp it with a clasp!" Then leaping on his feet upright, Some moody turns he took,-- Now up the mead, then down the mead, And past a shady nook,-- And lo! he saw a little boy That pored upon a book. "My gentle lad, what is't you read -- Romance or fairy fable? Or is it some historic page, Of kings and crowns unstable?" The young boy gave an upward glance,-- "It is 'The Death of Abel.'" The Usher took six hasty strides, As smit with sudden pain, -- Six hasty strides beyond the place, Then slowly back again; And down he sat beside the lad, And talked with him of Cain; And, long since then, of bloody men, Whose deeds tradition saves; Of lonely folks cut off unseen, And hid in sudden graves; Of horrid stabs, in groves forlorn, And murders done in caves; And how the sprites of injured men Shriek upward from the sod. -- Ay, how the ghostly hand will point To show the burial clod: And unknown facts of guilty acts Are seen in dreams from God! He told how murderers walk the earth Beneath the curse of Cain, -- With crimson clouds before their eyes, And flames about their brain: For blood has left upon their souls Its everlasting stain! "And well," quoth he, "I know for truth, Their pangs must be extreme, -- Woe, woe, unutterable woe, -- Who spill life's sacred stream! For why, Methought last night I wrought A murder, in a dream! One that had never done me wrong -- A feeble man and old; I led him to a lonely field, The moon shone clear and cold: Now here, said I, this man shall die, And I will have his gold! "Two sudden blows with a ragged stick, And one with a heavy stone, One hurried gash with a hasty knife, -- And then the deed was done: There was nothing lying at my foot But lifeless flesh and bone! "Nothing but lifeless flesh and bone, That could not do me ill; And yet I feared him all the more, For lying there so still: There was a manhood in his look, That murder could not kill!" "And lo! the universal air Seemed lit with ghastly flame; Ten thousand thousand dreadful eyes Were looking down in blame: I took the dead man by his hand, And called upon his name! "O God! it made me quake to see Such sense within the slain! But when I touched the lifeless clay, The blood gushed out amain! For every clot, a burning spot Was scorching in my brain! "My head was like an ardent coal, My heart as solid ice; My wretched, wretched soul, I knew, Was at the Devil's price: A dozen times I groaned: the dead Had never groaned but twice! "And now, from forth the frowning sky, From the Heaven's topmost height, I heard a voice -- the awful voice Of the blood-avenging sprite -- 'Thou guilty man! take up thy dead And hide it from my sight!' "I took the dreary body up, And cast it in a stream, -- A sluggish water, black as ink, The depth was so extreme: My gentle boy, remember this Is nothing but a dream! "Down went the corse with a hollow plunge, And vanished in the pool; Anon I cleansed my bloody hands, And washed my forehead cool, And sat among the urchins young, That evening in the school. "Oh, Heaven! to think of their white souls, And mine so black and grim! I could not share in childish prayer, Nor join in Evening Hymn: Like a Devil of the Pit I seemed, 'Mid holy Cherubim! "And peace went with them, one and all, And each c