Evening journal., 1892-09-07


man. "There is no substance in it. It |
IL cold and dead and can do nothing for
me- OF penance / have had enough. /
OF penitence there has been none. Else
! should long ago have thrown off these
garments of mock holiness and have
shown myself 10 mankind as they viii
see me at the Judgment seat. Happy
are you, Hester, that wear the scarlet
letter openly upon your bosom. Mine
/ burns in secret Thou little knowest
what q relief it is, after the torment of
a seven years cheat TO look into an eye
! that recognizes me for what am Had
/ I ono friend-or were it my worst enc
my-tO whom, when Gckened with tho
praises Of all other men, could daily
betalle myself and be known as the
vilest Of all sinners, nethinks my soul
might keep itself alive thereby. Even
thus much of truth would save me-
But now it is all falsehood-all empti-
ness-all deathr
Hester Prynne looked into his face,
but hesitated to speak Yet, tutoring
his long restrained emotions sc vehe-
mently Us he did. his words here offered
her the very point OF circumstances in
which 20 interpose what she came to say.
She conquered her fears and spoke.
"Such a friend as thou hast even now
wished for. said she, with whom to
weep over thy sin thou hast in me the
partner of III" Again she hesitated, but
brought out the words, with an effort,
Thou hast long had such an enemy,
and dwelleit with him under the same
roof"
The minister started to his feet, gasp
ing for breath and clutching at his heart
Is If he would have torn it out of his
bosom.
"Hal What sayest thou?' cried he.
IAN enemy! and under mine own roof
What mean you"
Hester Prynne was now fully sensible
of the deep injury for which she was re-
sponsible to this unhappy man in per-
, uniting him to lie for so many years, or,
/ indeed for q single moment, at the
, mercy Of one whose purposes could not
) DO other than maleyolent. The very
contiguity of his enemy, beneath what
ever mask the latter might conceal him
self, was enough to disturb the magnetic
sphere of a being so sensitive as Arthur
. Dimmesdale. There had been period
when Hester was less alive to this con-
] sideratiOn; or perhaps in the misanthro-
5 by of her own trouble she loft the minis
ter to bear what she might picture to
hherself as a more tolerablo doom. But Of
. late since the night of his vigil, all her
, sympathies toward him had been both
softened and invigorated. She now read
I his heart more accurately. She doubted
not that the continual presence Of Roger
b Chillngworth-the secret poison OF his
= malignity injecting all the air about
Y him-and his authorized Interference as
. physician with the minister's physical
r and spiritual infirrnities-that these bad
70 opportunities had been turned to q crue
- purpose. BY means OF them the suffer
@ er's conscience had been kept in an irri
p tated state, Che tendency of which wa
r not to cure by wholesome pain, but 3,
4 disorganize and corrupt his spiritua
II being. It's result on earth could hardl,
3. fail to be insanity, and hereafter tha
r eternal alienation from the good AM
u true, of which madness is perhaps tn
=, earthly type.
r Such was the ruin to which she ha'
|, brought the man once-nay, why shout,
n we not speak it-still so passionatell
). lovedl Hester felt that the sacrifice o
S the clergyman's good name, and dealt
" itself, rs she had already told Roge
# Chillingworth, would have been infinite
~ preferable to the alternative whicl
~ she had taken upon herself to choose
n And now, rather than have had thi
~ grievous wrong to confess. she woul
ID gladly have lain down on the flores
d leaves and died there at Arthur Dimmes
e dalesfeet
N 40 Arthur" cried she, forgive me
Sc In all things else l have striven to b
n true. Truth was the one virtue whic
e l might have held fast, and did hol
T. fast through al extremity, save whe
d. thy good, thy life, thy fame were pa
It in question: Then l consented to dc
re ception. But lie is never good, eve
30 though death threaten on the other side
DE- Dost thou not see what / would say
It That old man, the physician-he whol
n they call Roger Chillingworth-he wa
If my husbands"
10 The minister looked at her for an III
slant with all the violence Of passio
is which-intermixod in more shapes tina
one, with his higher, purer, softer qua
ID ities-was, in fact, tho portion of hii
which the devil claimed and throug
N which he sought to win the rest. NevC
was there a blacker or n hercer frow
than Hester now encountered. For III
n brief space that it lasted it was a dar
.e- TRANSPORTATION. But his character Ia
fe been so much enfeebled by suiIerin
e- that even its lower energies were inc.
Sc pable Of more than q temporary struggl
I'd He sank down on the ground and buric
I'd his face in his hands.
Tia IL might have known it," murmurC
70 he 81 did know it. Was not the seer
It's told me in the natural recoil of my hea
he at the first sight Of him, and as often
IT, have seen him since? Why did / M
understand o Hester Prynne, tho
sd little little knowest all the horror
Cd this thingl And the shame!-the indC
no icacyl-the horrible uglinoss of this e
posture Of a sick and guilty heart TO Il
,ra VERY eve that would ulOat over it, w