Chapter 35 second quarter

There was a thick layer of snow on Harvard Square.Lowell searches the campus for Edward Sheldon, but in vain. Around the fire, the majestic people formed a semi-circle, staring intently at the fire below.They are throwing a large pile of books into the fire.Among them were local Unitarians and Congregational ministers, members of the Harvard Board of Trustees, and several representatives of the Harvard Oversight Board.Lowell rushed forward and got down on one knee to pull the booklet out of the flames.The cover was charred and black, and the title could not be read clearly. He turned to the title page, which read: A Defense of Charles Darwin and His Theory of Evolution.

From a steamy window in the school library's eerie Gothic Gore Hall, Dr. Manning looks down on the scene.Lowell rushed towards the spacious entrance, crossed the atrium, and took each big step with great composure. "Manning!" Lowell yelled, prompting a burst of reprimand from the librarian. Manning was slinking about on the landing above the reading room, gathering a few books. "You should be in class now, Professor Lowell. Leaving students alone is not acceptable to the school board." Lowell had to take out a handkerchief and wipe his face before climbing up the landing. "How dare you burn books in a dignified school!"

"The religious world has a lot to thank us for. We have overcome the unbelievable theory that they say that man evolved from monkeys. Professor, I think your father would agree." "Why exactly, Manning? What makes you hate other people's thoughts?" Manning squinted at Lowell.As he spoke, his voice seemed to change tune, "Our country has always been holy, with a simple sense of morality and justice, it is the last orphan of the great Roman Republic. Our world has been invaded by infiltrators. and the suppression and destruction of novel immoral ideas that are eroding all the principles upon which America rests, and those gringos are responsible for that. See for yourself, Professor. Don't you think that twenty years ago we might have been Cannibalism? We are corrupted. That war, our war, is far from over, it has only just begun. We unleashed the devil, and the air we breathe is full of devils. Revolution, murder, theft, in our Conceived in the heart, and then out on the street, into our house." It was Manning's most emotional speech, and Lowell had never seen him talk like this before. "Judge Healy was my senior classmate, Lowell - one of our best overseers - and now, he's dead at the hands of some beast that knows nothing but death! Brave man of Boston Constantly under attack. Harvard is their last bastion of protection. And here, under my control!"

Manning was extremely excited: "You, professor, you can talk about rebellion and the like without taking responsibility. You are really a poet." Lowell thought he was standing so straight for the first time since Janison's death.This gave him a new strength. "A hundred years ago, we chained a class of people, and there was a war there. America will continue to grow, no matter how many souls you chain up now, Manning. I know you threatened Holden that if he published Longfellow's translation of the Divine Comedy at your own peril." Manning turned to the window, watching the orange flames. "Exactly, Professor Lowell. Italy is a country of the worst passions and most casual morals. I welcome you to donate a few copies of their Divine Comedy to Gore Hall, like some stupid scientist Darwin's writings. That fire is where they belong - a warning to all who seek to make our school a sanctuary of filth and blasphemous thought."

"I will never let you succeed." Lowell replied, "Dante is the first Christian poet, the first poet to form his system of thought with pure Christian theology." "Excellent presentation, Professor." Manning stared at him indifferently from the landing. "I'm afraid not everyone agrees with you. A policeman, a policeman named Ray, paid me a special visit. He asked started your work as a translator of The Divine Comedy. He left abruptly without explaining why. Can you tell me why your work has drawn the attention of the police to our esteemed 'school'?"

Lowell stopped and looked back at Manning. Manning put his slender fingers on his breastbone, "Some wise people in your circle will jump out and betray you-I can assure you. The rebel group will not last long. Even if Mr. Horton Not willing to cooperate with me to stop you, there will always be someone, such as Dr. Holmes." Lowell wanted to leave, but wanted to hear what he would say next. "I warned him a few months ago to withdraw from your translation project, or his reputation will be greatly damaged. Do you think he will do that?" Lowell shook his head. "He visited me and took my opinion for granted."

"You lied, Manning!" "Oh, so he's still working on it?" he asked rhetorically, as if he knew more than Lowell could imagine. Lowell pressed his trembling lips tightly. Manning shook his head and smiled, "That poor little man is your traitor, and he is waiting for your instructions, Professor Lowell." "Believe it, if I am a friend of someone once, I will always be his friend--it is not difficult for me. Although a man may be willing to be my enemy, but whether I am willing to be his enemy , it's up to me to decide, he can't control my thoughts. Goodbye." Lowell has a knack for ending a conversation and making the other party want to hear him continue.

Manning followed Lowell down to the reading room and grabbed his arm, "I don't understand how you can ignore your good reputation for this kind of thing. Isn't a good reputation something you have been striving for all your life, Professor?" Lowell pushed his hand away and said, "Don't you want to go to heaven, if you can, Manning?" If the murderer has been somehow monitoring the progress of Longfellow's translation and urging them to speed up in order to complete the translation as soon as possible, then the Dante Club can only translate the remaining ten chapters of "Inferno" as quickly as possible. Three songs.They agreed to divide into two teams: one for investigation and one for translation.

Lowell and Fields will analyze the evidence they have, while Longfellow and George Washington Green will laboriously translate in their study. "It doesn't make sense!" "Give it up and move on, Lowell," said Fields, sitting in a deep armchair in the study. Lowell ignored him, "Why do you think Jannison is a alien? Especially in the 'evil bag' of hell, every ghost carefully selected by Dante is undoubtedly a symbol of evil." "We have to sort out the most important details of the murder before we can find out why Satan picked Janison," Fields said.

"Oh, that's further proof that Satan is a powerful man. Janison climbed mountains with the Adirondack Club. He's a sportsman, a hunter, and our Satan got him And easily dismembered him." "No doubt he took him with a weapon," said Fields. "A man who is as strong as he is alive is afraid of guns, Lowell. From the night Talbot was murdered, every street in the borough has had a police presence at all hours of the day. And Satan has paid the greatest attention to detail in The Divine Comedy—that's for sure." "While we're talking," said Lowell absently, "while Longfellow is translating a new verse, there may be another murder that we're powerless to prevent."

"Three murders, no witnesses. Exactly as our translation progresses. What can we do but hang out in the streets and wait? If I hadn't been so educated, I'm sure I wouldn't have thought, We're really possessed by the devil." “We had to narrow down and focus on the relationship between the murderer and our club,” Lowell said. “We should focus on finding all the people who might know our translation schedule in some way.” There was another knock on the door, but they paid no heed. "I wrote a note to Houghton asking if he was sure Longfellow's proof of translation never came out of Riverside Press," Fields told Lowell. The club hadn't started translating the poems at the time. Longfellow continued to send proofs to the printers to give the impression that everything was going well. By the way, any news on the lad Sheldon?" Lowell frowned. "He hasn't heard back from me yet, and I can't find him anywhere on campus. Only he can tell us about the unidentified person who spoke to him and Bucky." Fields got up and bent over beside Lowell. "You're pretty sure you saw this 'unknown' yesterday, Jamie?" he asked. Lowell was taken aback when he heard the sound, "What do you mean, Fields? I told you a long time ago, I saw him observing me on the Harvard campus, and I saw him waiting for Bucky once again. A later time, I saw him having a lively conversation with Edward Sheldon." Fields took a step back involuntarily, "We're all too worried and anxious, dear Lowell. I've been restless and only napped for the past few nights." Lowell snapped his notebook shut and began to speak, "You said what I saw was just a hallucination?" "Tell me yourself that you think you saw Janison, Bucky, and your ex-wife, and then saw your dead son. For God's sake!" Fields yelled stand up. Lowell's lips were trembling. "Look here, Fields. This is the last hope, a clue." "Please be quiet, Lovell. I didn't mean to be loud. I didn't mean to." "I think you know what we're supposed to do better than we do. We're just a bunch of poets! How that man found out our translation schedule, I think you know all about that!" "Come. What might this imply, Mr. Lowell?" "Simple: who on earth is keeping an eye on the activities of the Dante Club around us? The printer's apprentices, the platemakers, the bookbinders—are they all working with Tickna Fields?" "Hey!" Fields was taken aback, "Don't attack me!"