-
Главная
-
- Книги
-
- Авторы
-
- Натаниэль Хоторн
-
- Мхи старой усадьбы
-
- Стр. 88/106
Для того чтобы воспользоваться озвучкой предложений, необходимо
Войти или зарегистрироваться
Озвучка предложений доступна при наличии PRO-доступа
Купить PRO-доступ
The
youth
shrank
as
if
with
a
bitter
pain
,
and
the
blood
gushed
vividly
into
his
wan
and
hollow
cheeks
.
His
first
impulse
was
to
cover
his
face
;
but
,
apparently
with
a
desperate
effort
,
he
half
raised
himself
and
spoke
vehemently
,
defending
himself
against
an
imaginary
accusation
.
"
Your
father
was
sore
wounded
in
the
battle
,
Dorcas
;
and
he
bade
me
not
burden
myself
with
him
,
but
only
to
lead
him
to
the
lakeside
,
that
he
might
quench
his
thirst
and
die
.
But
I
would
not
desert
the
old
man
in
his
extremity
,
and
,
though
bleeding
myself
,
I
supported
him
;
I
gave
him
half
my
strength
,
and
led
him
away
with
me
.
For
three
days
we
journeyed
on
together
,
and
your
father
was
sustained
beyond
my
hopes
,
but
,
awaking
at
sunrise
on
the
fourth
day
,
I
found
him
faint
and
exhausted
;
he
was
unable
to
proceed
;
his
life
had
ebbed
away
fast
;
and
—
"
"
He
died
!
"
exclaimed
Dorcas
,
faintly
.
Reuben
felt
it
impossible
to
acknowledge
that
his
selfish
love
of
life
had
hurried
him
away
before
her
father
’
s
fate
was
decided
.
He
spoke
not
;
he
only
bowed
his
head
;
and
,
between
shame
and
exhaustion
,
sank
back
and
hid
his
face
in
the
pillow
.
Dorcas
wept
when
her
fears
were
thus
confirmed
;
but
the
shock
,
as
it
had
been
long
anticipated
,
was
on
that
account
the
less
violent
.
"
You
dug
a
grave
for
my
poor
father
in
the
wilderness
,
Reuben
?
"
was
the
question
by
which
her
filial
piety
manifested
itself
.
"
My
hands
were
weak
;
but
I
did
what
I
could
,
"
replied
the
youth
in
a
smothered
tone
.
"
There
stands
a
noble
tombstone
above
his
head
;
and
I
would
to
Heaven
I
slept
as
soundly
as
he
!
"
Dorcas
,
perceiving
the
wildness
of
his
latter
words
,
inquired
no
further
at
the
time
;
but
her
heart
found
ease
in
the
thought
that
Roger
Malvin
had
not
lacked
such
funeral
rites
as
it
was
possible
to
bestow
.
The
tale
of
Reuben
’
s
courage
and
fidelity
lost
nothing
when
she
communicated
it
to
her
friends
;
and
the
poor
youth
,
tottering
from
his
sick
chamber
to
breathe
the
sunny
air
,
experienced
from
every
tongue
the
miserable
and
humiliating
torture
of
unmerited
praise
.
All
acknowledged
that
he
might
worthily
demand
the
hand
of
the
fair
maiden
to
whose
father
he
had
been
"
faithful
unto
death
;
"
and
,
as
my
tale
is
not
of
love
,
it
shall
suffice
to
say
that
in
the
space
of
a
few
months
Reuben
became
the
husband
of
Dorcas
Malvin
.
During
the
marriage
ceremony
the
bride
was
covered
with
blushes
,
but
the
bridegroom
’
s
face
was
pale
.
There
was
now
in
the
breast
of
Reuben
Bourne
an
incommunicable
thought
—
something
which
he
was
to
conceal
most
heedfully
from
her
whom
he
most
loved
and
trusted
.
He
regretted
,
deeply
and
bitterly
,
the
moral
cowardice
that
had
restrained
his
words
when
he
was
about
to
disclose
the
truth
to
Dorcas
;
but
pride
,
the
fear
of
losing
her
affection
,
the
dread
of
universal
scorn
,
forbade
him
to
rectify
this
falsehood
.
He
felt
that
for
leaving
Roger
Malvin
he
deserved
no
censure
.
His
presence
,
the
gratuitous
sacrifice
of
his
own
life
,
would
have
added
only
another
and
a
needless
agony
to
the
last
moments
of
the
dying
man
;
but
concealment
had
imparted
to
a
justifiable
act
much
of
the
secret
effect
of
guilt
;
and
Reuben
,
while
reason
told
him
that
he
had
done
right
,
experienced
in
no
small
degree
the
mental
horrors
which
punish
the
perpetrator
of
undiscovered
crime
.
By
a
certain
association
of
ideas
,
he
at
times
almost
imagined
himself
a
murderer
.
For
years
,
also
,
a
thought
would
occasionally
recur
,
which
,
though
he
perceived
all
its
folly
and
extravagance
,
he
had
not
power
to
banish
from
his
mind
.
It
was
a
haunting
and
torturing
fancy
that
his
father
-
in
-
law
was
yet
sitting
at
the
foot
of
the
rock
,
on
the
withered
forest
leaves
,
alive
,
and
awaiting
his
pledged
assistance
.
These
mental
deceptions
,
however
,
came
and
went
,
nor
did
he
ever
mistake
them
for
realities
:
but
in
the
calmest
and
clearest
moods
of
his
mind
he
was
conscious
that
he
had
a
deep
vow
unredeemed
,
and
that
an
unburied
corpse
was
calling
to
him
out
of
the
wilderness
.
Yet
such
was
the
consequence
of
his
prevarication
that
he
could
not
obey
the
call
.
It
was
now
too
late
to
require
the
assistance
of
Roger
Malvin
’
s
friends
in
performing
his
long
-
deferred
sepulture
;
and
superstitious
fears
,
of
which
none
were
more
susceptible
than
the
people
of
the
outward
settlements
,
forbade
Reuben
to
go
alone
.
Neither
did
he
know
where
in
the
pathless
and
illimitable
forest
to
seek
that
smooth
and
lettered
rock
at
the
base
of
which
the
body
lay
:
his
remembrance
of
every
portion
of
his
travel
thence
was
indistinct
,
and
the
latter
part
had
left
no
impression
upon
his
mind
.
There
was
,
however
,
a
continual
impulse
,
a
voice
audible
only
to
himself
,
commanding
him
to
go
forth
and
redeem
his
vow
;
and
he
had
a
strange
impression
that
,
were
he
to
make
the
trial
,
he
would
be
led
straight
to
Malvin
’
s
bones
.
But
year
after
year
that
summons
,
unheard
but
felt
,
was
disobeyed
.
