Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1892-04-30
CHAPTER III.
THE INTERVIEW.

interior.
CHAPTER Ill
THE INTERVIEW.
After her return to the prison, Hester
Prynne was found to be in state OF
nervous excitement that demanded CON
slant watchfulness, lest she should per-
petrate violence on herself or do some
half frenzied mischief to the poor babe
As night approached, it proving impos-
sible to quell her INSTRUMENTATION by
rebuke or threats of punishment, Master
Bracket, the jailer, thought fit to intro
duce a physician He described him as
man of skill in all Christian modes of
physical science and likewise familiar
with whatever the savage people could
teach in respect to medicinal herbs and
roots that grew in the forest. To say
the Truth, there was much need of pro
a,s,iun;il assistance, not merely for Hes
sef herself. but still more urgently for
the child; who, drawing its sustenance
from the maternal bosom, seemed to
have drank in with it all the turmoil,
the anguish and despair which per-
writhed in commissions of pain, and was
forcible type, in its little frame, of the
moral agony which Hester Prynne had
borne throughout the day.
Closely following the jailer into the
dismal apartment appeared that indi-
vidual of singular aspect whose pres
| ence in the crowd had been of such deep
interest to the wearer of the scarlet let
ter. He was lodged in the prison, not
as suspected of any offense, but as the
| most convenient and suitable mode OF
| disposing of him until the magistrates
should have conferred with the Indian
sagamores respecting his ransom. His
name was announced as Roger Chilling
| worth. The jailer after ushering him
into the room remained moment, mar
| Yelling at the comparative quiet that fol-
| lowed his entrance; for Hester Prynne
| had Immediately become as still as
| death, although the child continued to
| moan.
| "Prithee, friend, leave me alone with
my patient" said the practitioner.
ssTrust me, good jailer you shall briefly
have peace in your house; and promise
| you Mistress Prynne shall hereafter be
more amenable to just authority than
| you may have found her heretofore"
'sNay, if your worship can accomplish
that" answered Master Bracket, 81
shall own you for man of skill indeed!
Verify, the woman hath been like
possessed one, and there lacks little
that | should take in hand to drive
satan out of her with stripes"
The stranger had entered the room
with the characteristic quietude OF the
profession to which he announced HIM
self as belonging. Nor did his demeanor
change when the withdrawal of the
prison keeper left him face to face with
the woman, whose absorbed notice of
| him in the crowd had intimated so close
relation between himself and her.
| His first care was given to the child,
| whose cries, indeed, as she lay writing
| on the trundlebed, made it of peremp-
tory necessity to postpone all other
| business to the task of soothing her. He
examined the infant carefully and then
| proceeded to unclasp a leathern case,
which he took from beneath his dress.
1t appeared to contain medical prepare
| tions, one of which he mingled with a
cup of water.
"My old studies in alchemy" observed
he, "and my soiourn, for above a year
past, among people well versed in the
kindly properties of simples have made
a better physician of me than many that
claim the medical degree. Here, womanl
The child is yours, she is none of mine,
neither will she recognize my voice or
aspect as a fathers. Administer this
draft, therefore, with thine own hand. !"
Hester repealed the offered medicine,
at the same time gazing with strongly
marked apprehension into his face.
/ "Wouldst thou avenge thyself on the
innocent babes" whispered she.
| "Foolish womani" responded the ply
stefan, half coldly, half soothingly.
"What should all me, to harm this mis-
begotten and miserable babe? The
medicine is potent for good; and were it
my child-yea, mine own, as well as
thine-I could do no better for it."
AS she still hesitated, being, in fact,
in no reasonable state of mind, he took
the infant in his arms and himself adj
ministered the draft. 1t soon proved its
efficacy and redeemed the leech's pledge.
The means of the little patient subsidized;
its convulsive tossings gradually ceased,
and in a few moments, as is the custom
of young children after relief from pain,
it sank into profound and dewy slum-
Der. The physician, as he had fair
right to be termed, next bestowed his
attention on the mother. With calm and
intent scrutiny he felt her pulse, looked
into her eyes-a gaze that made her
heart shrink and shudder, because SO fa-
miliar and yet so strange and cold-and
finally, satisfied with his investigation,
proceeded to mingle another draft.
| 81 know not Lethe nor Nepenthe," re-
marked he, "but have learned many
new secrets in the wilderness, and here
is one of them-a recipe that an Indian
taught me in requital of some lessons of
my own that were as old as Paracelsus.
Drink It'll 1t may be less soothing than
sinless conscience. That cannot give
thee. But it viii calm the swell and
heaving Of thy passion, like oil thrown
on the waves Of tempestuous sea-"
/ He presented the cup to Hester, who
received it with slow, earnest look into
his face-not precisely look of fear,
! yet full of doubt and questioning as to
| what his purposes might be. She looked
also at her slumbering child.
| Il have thought of death, . said She
shave wished for it-wou1d even have
prayed for it were it fit that such as
should pray for anything. Yet if death
be in this cup bid thee think again ere
thou beholdest me quaff it. Seel It is
even now at my lips"
"prink. them replied he, SIN with