San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-24
CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XI.
PASTOR AND PARISHIoNER.
Hester Prynne remained constant in
her resolve to make known to Mr.. Dim
mesdale. at whatever risk of present pain
or Interior consequences, the true char
acter of the man who had crept into his
intimacy. For several days, however,
she vainly sought an opportunity of ad-
dressing him in some of the meditative
walks which she knew him to be IN the
habit of taking along the shores of the
peninsula or ON the wooded hills of the
neighboring country. There would have
been no scandal, indeed, nor peril TO the
holy whiteness of the clergymans good
fame had she visited him in his OWL
study; where many penitent, ere now,
had confessed sins of perhaps as deep
dye as the one betokened by the scarlet
letter. But, partly that she dreaded the
secret or undisguised interference of old
Roger Chillingworth, and partly that
her conscious heart imputed suspicion
where none could have been felt, and
partly that both the minister and she
would need the whole wide world to
breathe in while they talked together
for all these reasons Hester never
thought of meeting him in any narrower
privacy than beneath the open sky.
At last, while attending in a sick
chamber, whittier the Reverend Mr.
Dimmesdale had been summoned to
make a prayer, she learned that he had
gone the day before TO visit the Apostle
Eliot among his Indian converts. He
would probably return by certain
hour in the afternoon of the morrow
Betimes, therefore, the next day Hester
took little Pearl, who was necessarily
the companion of all her mothers expe
ditions, however inconvenient her pres
ence, and set forth.
The road, after the two wayfarers had
crossed from the peninsula to the main
land, was no other than a footpath. II
struggled onward into the mystery of'the
primeval forest. This hemmed it in sc
narrowly and stood so black and dense
on either side, and disclosed such im.
perfect glimpses of the sky above, that tc
Hester's mind it imaged not amiss the
moral wilderness in which she had sc
long been wandering. The day was
chill and somber.
Overhead was gray expanse of cloud,
slightly stirred, however, by breeze,
so that a CLEAN of Pickering sunshine
might now and then be seen at its soil
tary play along the path. This fitting
cheerfulness was always at the farther
extremity of some long vista through
the forest. The sportive sunlight
feebly sportive at best in the predomi
nant pensiveness of the day and scene
withdrew itself as they came nigh, anc
left the spots where it had danced the
drearier because they had hoped to fine
them bright.
Mother" said little Pearl, ''the sun
shine does not love you. 1t runs away
and hides itself because it is afraid OF
something ON your bosom. Now, see
There it is, Eiaying. a good way off
Stand you here, and let me run anG
catch it. am but child. 1t will moi
hOO AAOAh hlc' iOl wear uObIluS Oh my
bosom yet"
"Nor ever will, my child, hope,
said Hester.
''And why not, mother?" asked Pearl
stopping short, just at the beginning Of
her race. Twill not it come of its OWL
accord, when am a woman CROWN
"Run away, child" answered hel
mother, "and catch the sunshine! Il
will soon be gone"
Pearl set forth at great pace, and, a.
Hester smiled to perceive, did actually
catch the sunshine, and stood laughing
in the midst of it, all frightened by it
splendor and scintillating with the vi
vacity excited by rapid motion.
When her elf child had departed
Hester Prynne made step or two to
ward the track that led through the for
est, but still remained under the dee
shadow of the trees. She beheld tn
minister advancing along the path en-
tirely alone and leaning on stat
which he had cut by the wayside. II
looked haggard and feeble and betraye
a neryeless dependency in his al
which had never so remarkably charaC
terized him in his walks about the sci
Element, nor in any other situatio
where he deemed himself liable to nc