"Hawthorne, Nathaniel - The Minister's Black Veil" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hawthorne Nathaniel)

and looking on the ground, as is customary with abstracted men, yet
nodding kindly to those of his parishioners who still waited on the
meeting-house steps. But so wonder-struck were they that his
greeting hardly met with a return.

"I can't really feel as if good Mr. Hooper's face was behind that
piece of crape," said the sexton.

"I don't like it," muttered an old woman, as she hobbled into the
meeting-house. "He has changed himself into something awful, only by
hiding his face."

"Our parson has gone mad!" cried Goodman Gray, following him across
the threshold.

A rumor of some unaccountable phenomenon had preceded Mr. Hooper
into the meeting-house, and set all the congregation astir. Few
could refrain from twisting their heads towards the door; many stood
upright, and turned directly about; while several little boys
clambered upon the seats, and came down again with a terrible
racket. There was a general bustle, a rustling of the women's gowns
and shuffling of the men's feet, greatly at variance with that
hushed repose which should attend the entrance of the minister. But
Mr. Hooper appeared not to notice the perturbation of his people. He
entered with an almost noiseless step, bent his head mildly to the
pews on each side, and bowed as he passed his oldest parishioner, a
white-haired great-grandsire, who occupied an arm-chair in the
centre of the aisle. It was strange to observe how slowly this
venerable man became conscious of something singular in the appearance
of his pastor. He seemed not fully to partake of the prevailing
wonder, till Mr. Hooper had ascended the stairs, and showed himself in
the pulpit, face to face with his congregation, except for the black
veil. That mysterious emblem was never once withdrawn. It shook with
his measured breath, as he gave out the psalm; it threw its
obscurity between him and the holy page, as he read the Scriptures;
and while he prayed, the veil lay heavily on his uplifted countenance.
Did he seek to hide it from the dread Being whom he was addressing?

Such was the effect of this simple piece of crape, that more than
one woman of delicate nerves was forced to leave the meeting-house.
Yet perhaps the pale-faced congregation was almost as fearful a
sight to the minister, as his black veil to them.

Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an
energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild,
persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the
thunders of the Word. The sermon which he now delivered was marked
by the same characteristics of style and manner as the general
series of his pulpit oratory. But there was something, either in the
sentiment of the discourse itself, or in the imagination of the