Chapter 59 Section ten

Over the next few months, a new crop of criminal tabloids relished the scandalous story of Pinkerton second-rate Simon Kemp, who fled Boston shortly after a lengthy conversation with Langdon Paisley. , he has since been indicted by the chief prosecutor, accusing him of using war secrets to extort several top government officials.During the first three years of his sentence, Kemp extorted tens of thousands of dollars from several officials involved in the case.Pinkerton reimbursed all the parties Kemp had blackmailed, although one man, a Harvard professor named Manning, was missing and not even the most important private detective agency in the country could find his address.

Manning resigned from Harvard's board of trustees and moved the family out of Boston.At one point, his wife said, he didn't say a word for months at a time.Some said he went to England, others heard that he went to an island in an undiscovered sea. At the end of 1865, Longfellow's translation of the Inferno was secretly printed, and the Florentine Commission, which held the final assembly commemorating the sixcentenary of Dante's birth, gladly accepted the translation and was praised by the highest literary circles in Berlin, London, and Paris "Excellent Anthology".Longfellow presented hardcover copies to every member of the Dante Club and other friends.

By the time the Dante Club had to close their meeting, their work was done, and Holmes thought that Longfellow might have grown restless. Recently, Lowell allowed his daughter Mabel to travel to Italy for six months.The Fields family will sail to Italy in the new year, and Osgood will take care of the daily work of the company and escort Mabel along the way. While Houghton hadn't yet started printing the three-volume translation of Longfellow's Divine Comedy that would go on sale, Fields was already planning what would be the literary event of the season at a banquet at Boston's famed Union Club.

On the day of the party, Holmes spent the afternoon at Craigie's.Green also came from Rhode Island. "Yeah, yeah," Holmes told Greene about his successful second novel, "the reader is what counts, because they determine the value of writing. Writing is not survival of the fittest." , but the survival of the survivors. What are the critics? They try their best to belittle me, make me worthless - if I can't stand this, then I deserve to be called by them." "You talk a little like Lowell these days," Green said, laughing. "I think so." Green stretched out a trembling finger and pulled the white scarf around his sagging neck. "Just a little air, no doubt," he said, coughing violently.

"If I can cure you, Mr. Green, I'll be a doctor again." Holmes got up to see if Longfellow was ready. "No, no, better not," Green whispered. "Let's just wait for him outside." On the path in front of the door, Holmes said: "I think I should be content. But can you believe, Mr. Green, that I have begun to re-read Dante's "Divine Comedy"? I wonder, after all these things, You have never doubted the value of our work. On this road, have you never thought about what you have lost?" Green's half-moon eyes closed, "You gentlemen, always thought that Dante's story was the greatest novel. But I, I always thought that Dante was traveling. I think it was God who gave him poetry. of."

"And now," said Holmes, "you still believe it's all true, don't you?" "Oh, more than ever, Dr. Holmes." He laughed, looking back at the window of Longfellow's study. "More than ever." The lights at Craigie's were dimmed, and as Longfellow climbed the stairs, passing Giotto's portrait of Dante—with one eye broken, Dante looking carefree—Longfellow thought , perhaps one eye looks into the future, while the other holds the mysterious beauty of Biedrich, which makes his whole life turbulent. "When are you coming home, Dad?"

"It's late, and you're all asleep by then." "I love you, my precious girls," said Longfellow, kissing their soft brows, "I love you because you are my daughters. You are Mama's daughters too, and she loves you. Loves you forever. " The children got into the quilt, and the bright patterns on the quilt spread out, and then fell down again, making a pleasant sound.Then he left them and walked into the endless silence of the night.He looked through the window at the carriage house, where Fields' new carriage was waiting, and Fields' newly adopted Union cavalry veteran was drinking from a shallow ditch.

It was raining, a night rain, a Christian drizzle.It must have been inconvenient for Fields to drive from Boston to Cambridge and back again, but he insisted. Holmes and Green moved away, leaving Longfellow a roomy place between them, with Fields and Lovell in the opposite seat.Longfellow hoped that he would not be asked to speak before the whole company at the banquet, but if he could not be excused, he would thank his friends for having accompanied him so far.