Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1892-09-09
CHAPTER XIV.
rHE AiINIsrER ~ A NAE.


THE MINISTER IN MAZE.
As the minister departed in advance /
OF Hester Prynne and little Pearl ne |
threw a backward glance. half expect
ing that he should discover only some |
family traced features or outline of the |
mother and the child slowly fading into |
the twilight of the woods. So great a
vicissitude in his life could not at once
yaJeceived as real But there was Hes |
ter, clad in her gray robe, still standing |
beside the tree trunk, which some blast |
had overthrown a long antiquity ago
and which had ever since been covering
with moss. so that these two fated ones,
with earth's heaviest burden on them,
might there sit down together and find
a single hours rest and solace- And
there was Pearl. too, lightly dancing
from the margin Of the brook-now that
the intrusive third person was gone
and taking her old place by her mothers
side. SO the minister had not fallen
asleep and dreamed.
In order to free his mind from this in
distinctness and duplicity Of impression,
which vexed it with strange dis
quietude, he recalled and more thor
oughly defined the plans which Hester
and himself had sketched for their de-
parture. 1t had been determined be-
tween them that the Old World, with
its crowds and cities, offered them a
more eligible shelter and concealment
than the wilds of New England or all
America, with its alternatives of an In
han wigwam or the few settlements of
Europeans scattered thinly along the
seaboard Not to speak Of the clergy
mans health, so inadequate TO sustain
the hardships of forest life, his native
gifts, his culture and his entire develop
ment would secure him home only IN
the midst Of civilization and refinement;
the higher the state the more delicately
adapted TO it the man
In furtherance Of this choice, it so hap
pened that a ship lay in the harbor; one
If those questionable cruisers frequent
It that day, which. without being abso-
lutely outlaws Of the deep, yet roamed
l over its surface with a remarkable ire
sponsibility Of character. This vessel
/ mad recently arrived from the Spanish
/ Main, and within three days time would
! sail for Bristol Hester Prynne-whose
I vocation, as a self enlisted sister of
charity, had brought her acquainted
l with the captain and crew-could take
| upon herself to secure the passage of two
| individuals and child with all the Sc
srecy which circumstances rendered
more than desirable.
The minister had inquired Of Hester,
I with no little interest, the precise time
at which the vessel might be expected to
| lepart. It would probably be on the
fourth day from the present. THAT is
most fortunatel" he had then said to him
self. Now, why the Reverend Mr.. Dim
mesdale considered it so very fortunate,
we hesitate to reveal. Nevertheless, to
hold nothing back from the reader, it
was because on the third day from the
present he was TO preach the election
sermon, and as such an occasion formed
an honorable epoch in the life Of New
England clergyman be could not have
CHANGED upon a more suitable mode and
time Of terminating his professional ca
reer.
"At least they shall say of me, -
thought this exemplary man, "that
leave no public duty unperformed no-
| Il performedT Sad, indeed, that an in
rospection so profound and acute as
this poor minister's should be so misera-
bly, deceived We have had and may
stin have worse things to tell Of him.
but none we apprehend so pitiably
weak; no evidence, at once so slight and
rrefragablc, of a subtle disease that had
long since begun to eat into the rea'
substance Of his character. No man fol
any considerable period can wear one
face to himself and another TO the mul
titude without finally getting bewildere5
as to which may be the true.
The excitement of Mr.. Dimmesdale''
feelings as he returned from his inter
view with Hester lent him unaccus
toned physical energy and hurried hin
downward at a rapid pace. The path
way among the woods seemed wilder
more uncouth with its rude natural oh
stacles, and less trodden by the foot o
man, than he remembered it on his out
ward journey But he leaped acros
: the plashy places, thrust himsel
/ ! through the clinging underbrush
, climbed the ascent, plunged into tn
hollow, and overcame, in short, all tn
, | difficulties of the track with an un
, weariable activity that astonished him
/ He could not but recall how feebly, AM
/ with what frequent pauses for breath
/ he had toiled over the same groun
} only two days before. As he drew nea
? the town he took an impression c
D change from the series Of familiar oil
t iects that presented themselves
4 seemed not yesterday, not one, not two
r but many days, or even years ago, sine
I he had Quilted them There, indeed
was each former trace Of the street, a
r he remembered it, and all the peculiar
< tiles Of the houses, with the due multi
j tude Of gable peaks, and weathercoc