The se Greek capitals, black with age, and quite deeply graven in the stone, with I know not what signs peculiar to Gothic caligraphy imprinted upon their forms and upon their attitudes, as though with the purpose of revealing that it had been a hand of the Middle Ages which had inscribed them there, and especially the fatal and melancholy meaning contained in them, struck the author deeply.

这些希腊大写字母因年代久远而变黑，深深地刻在石头上，上面带有我所不知的哥特式书法特有的标志，仿佛为了表明这是中世纪的手所刻，尤其是它们所包含的宿命和忧郁的含义，深深地打动了作者。

He questioned himself; he sought to divine who could have been that soul in torment which had not been willing to quit this world without leaving this stigma of crime or unhappiness upon the brow of the ancient church.

他自问；他试图推断出那个不愿在离开这个世界之前，在这座古老教堂的额头上留下这种罪恶或不幸的烙印的痛苦灵魂是谁。