San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-14

temb1e at these preparations, Tor sh,
felt that-having now lone ali that hu
mainly or principle, or, if so it were, {
refined cruelty, impelled him to do, fol
the relief of physical suffering-he was
next to treat with her as the man whom
she had most deeply and ~irreparably in
jured.
Hester" said he, Il ask not where.
fore nor how thou hast fallen into the
pit or say, rather, thou hast assembled to
the pedestal of infamy, on which l found
thee. The reason is not far to seek. II
was my folly and thy weakness. |, a
man of thought, the bookworm of great
libraries, a man already in decay, having
given my best years to feed the hungry
dream of knowledge, what had | to do
with youth and beauty like thine own?
Misshapen from my birth hour, how
could | delude myself with the idea that
intellectual gifts might veil physical
deformity in a young girls fantasy?
Men call me wise. If sages were ever
wise in their own behoof l might have
foreseen all this. | might have known
that as | came out of the vast and dis
NAL forest and entered this settlement Of
Christian men the very first object to
meet my eyes would be thyself, Hester
Prynne, standing up, a statue of igao-
miny, before the people. Nay, from the
moment when we came down the old
church steps together, a married pair, l
might have beheld the balefire of that
scarlet letter blazing at the end of our
pathr'
Thou knowest," said Hester-for, de-
pressed as she was, she could not endure
this last quiet stab at the token of her
shame-''thou knowest that | was frank
with thee. felt no love, nor feigned
any,"
"True," replied he. 1T was my folly!
/ have said it. But, up to that epoch of
my life, | had lived in vain. The world
had been SO cheerless! My heart was a
~habitation, large enough for many
guests, but lonely and chill, and with
out a household fire. longed to kindle
one! 1t seemed not so wild a dream
old as | was, and somber as | was, and
m~isshapen as | was-that the simple
DllSS, WIlCn . SCdbUcItu d anu Wlut
for all mankind to gather up, might yet
be mine. And so, Hester, | drew thee
into my heart, into its innermost cham
Der, and sought to warm thee by the
warmth which thy presence made
there!"
81 have greatly wronged thee" muir
INJURED Hester.
"We have wronged each other" an
swered he. Mine was the first wrong,
when betrayed thy budding youth into
a false and unnatural relation with my
decay. Therefore, as a mar who has
not thought and philosophical in vain, |
seek no vengeance, plot no evil against
thee. Between thee and me the scale
hangs fairly balanced. But Hester the
nan lives who has wronged us both!
Who is he?"
"Ask me mott" replied Hester Prynne,
looking firmly into his face. ''That thou
shalt never know
"Never, sayest thou?" rejoined he,
with a smile of dark and self relying in
telligence. Never know him! Believe me,
Hester, there are few things-whether
in the outward world or, to a certain
depth, in the invisible sphere of thought
few things hidden from the man who
devotes himself earnestly and unre-
servedly to the solution of a mystery.
Thou mayest cover up thy secret from
the prying multitude. Thou mayest
conceal it, too, from the ministers and
magistrates, even as thou didst this
day, when they sought to wrench the
name out of thy heart and give thee a
partner on thy pedestal. But, as for
me, | come to the inquest with other
senses than they possess. l shall seek
this man, as | have sought truth in
books; as have sought gold in alchemy.
There is a sympathy that will make me
conscious of him. shall see him trem-
BILE. | shall feel myself shudder, sud
denly and W Sooner or later.
he must needs be miner"
. The eyes of the wrinkled scholar
glowed so intensely upon her that Hes
ter Prynne clasped her hands over her
heart, dreading that he should read the
secret there at once.
'Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not
the less he is mine" resumed he, with a
look of confidence, as if destiny were at
n with him. He bears no letter of
infamy wrought into his garment as
thou dost; but | shall read it on his
heart. Yet fear not for him! Think
not that | shall interfere with heavens
own method of retribution, or to my
own loss, betray him to the grippe of
human law. Neither do thou imagine
that l shall contrive aught against his
life; no, nor against his fame if, as /
s,dno hn hn n man Of fair ronnta Let