San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-28
THE SCARLET LETTER
By NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE

Thou vii: lowe him, walt thou noty
And will he always keep his hanS
over his hearth" inquired Pearl
Foolish child, what question is
THAR exclaimed her mother. Come
and ask his blessing!"
But whether influenced by the jeal-
ousy that seems instructive with every
petted child toward a dangerous rival or
from whatever caprice of her freakish
nature, Pearl would show no favor to the
clergyman. 1t WAS only by an exertiOn
of force that her mother brought her up
to him, hanging back and manifesting
her reluctance by odd grimaces: of
which, ever since her babyhood, she had
possessed singular variety, and could
transform her mobile physiognomy into
a series of different, aspects. with new
mischief in them. each and all. The
minister-painfully embarrassed, but
hoping that a kiss might prove talisman
to admit him into the child's kindlier
regards-bent forward and impressed
one on her brow.
Hereupon Pearl broke away from her
mother, and running to the brook
stopped over ii and bathed, her forehead
until the unwelcome kiss was quite
washed off and diffused through long
lapse of the gliding water. She then
renamed apart. silently watching Hes
ter and the clergyman, while they talked
together and made such arrangements
as were suggested by their new position
and the purposes soon to be fulfilled.
And now this fateful interview had
come to close. The deli was to be left
a solitude among its dark, old trees,
which, with their mnltitudinous tongues,
would whisper long of what had passed
there, and no mortal be the wiser. And
the melancholy brook would add this
other tale to the mystery with which its
little heart was already overburdened
and whereof it still kept up murmur-
ing babble, with not a whit more cheer
fitness of tone than for ages heretofore.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE MINISTER N A MAZE.
As the minister departed in advance
of Hester Prynne and little Pearl he
threw backward glance, half expect
ing that ne 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
be received as real. But there was Hes
ter, clad in her gray robe, still standing
hae;la h.a f,.aa (which h1ac+
had Oyerthrown long antiquity ago
and which had ever since been covering
with moss, so that these two fated ones,
with eartb's heaviest burden on them,
might there sit down together and find
a single honr's 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 a 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
it's 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
dian 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 ship lay in the harbor; one
of those questionable cruisers frequent
at that day, which, without being abso-
lutely outlaws of the deep, yet roamed
over its surface with remarkable ire
Sponsibility of character. This vessel
had recently arrived from the Spanish
Main, and within three days time would
sail for Bristol. Hester Prynne-whose
vocation, as a self enlisted sister of
charity, had brought her acquainted
with the captain and crew-could take
upon herself to secure the passage of two
individuals and child with all the Sc
crecy which circumstances rendered
more than desirable.
The minister had inquired of Hester,
with no little interest, the precise time
at which the vessel might be expected to
depart. 1t would probably be on the
fourth day from the present. "That is
most fortunater' he had then said to him
self. Now, why the Reverend Mr.. Dim
mesdale considered it SO very fortunate
we hesitate to reveal Nevertheless, Il