San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-20
CHAPTER VIII.
TIE LEEcH AND HIS PATIENT.

CHAPTER VIII.
TIE LEECH AND HIS PATIENT.
One day leaning his forehead
on his hand and his elbow on. the sill of
the open window that looked toward
the graveyard, he (Arthur Dimmesdale)
talked with Roger Chillingwerth, while
the old man was examining bundle of
unsightly plants.
Where asked he, with "a look
askance at them-for it was the clergy
mans popularity that he seldom nova
days looked straightforth at any. object,
whether human or nanimate--s.where,
my kind doctor, did you gather those
herbs with such dark, fabby leaf"
seven in the graveyard here at hand"
answered the physician, continuing his
employment. ''They are new to me-
found them growing on grave which
bore no tombstone or other memorial
of the dead man save these ugly weeds
that have taken upon themselves to
keep him in remembrance. They grew
out of his heart, and typify, it may be,
some hideous secret that was buried
with him, and which he had done bet
ter to confess during his lifetime"
"Perchance," said Mr.. Dimmesdaie,
she earnestly desired it, but could not"
"And wherefore rejoined the physi-
clan. Wherefore not, since all the
powers of nature call so earnestly for
the confession of sin that these black
weeds have sprung up out of a buried
heart to make manifest an unspoken
crimeY'
THAT, good sir, is but fantasy of
yours" replied the minister. There
can be, if forbode Alright, no power,
short of the divine mercy, to disclose,
whether by uttered words or by type or
emblem. the secrets that may be buried
with a human heart. The heart MAX
ing itself guilty of such secrets must
perforce hold them until the day when
all hidden things shall be revealed. Nor
have so read or interpreted Holy Writ
as to understand that the disclosure of
human thoughts and deeds, then to be
made, is intended as part of the retri-
BUTTON That, surely, were shallow
view of it. No; these revelations, I'M
less greatly err, are meant merely to
promote the intellectual satisfaction of
all Intelligent beings, who will stand
waiting on that day to see the dark
problem of this life made plain. A
knowledge of mems hearts will be need
full TO the completest solution Of that
problem. And | conceive, moreover,
that the hearts holding such miserable
secrets as you speak of will yield them
up at that last day, not with reluctance,
but with joy unutterable."
"Then why not reveal them here"
asked Roger Chillingworth, glancing
quietly aside at the minister. "Why
should not the guilty ones sooner avail
themselves of this unutterable solace?'
"They mostly do" said the clergy
man, gripping hard at his breast as if
afflicted with an importunate throb OF
pain. "Manv, many a poor soul hath
given its confidence 20 me, not only on
the deathbed, but while strong in life
and fair in reputation. And ever after
such an outpouring, oh, what "a relief
have l witnessed in those sinful
OAOoi1Chs ONCu DO III OuO WIN db ldSU
draws free air after long sitting with
his own polluted breath. How can it
( be otherwise? Why should wretched
man, guilty, we will say, of murder,
prefer to keep the dead corpse buried in
his own heart rather than fling it forth
at once and let the universe take care
of it,"
"Yet some men bury their secrets
thus" observed the calm physician.
"True, there are such men," answered
Mr.. Dimmesdale. "But, not to suggest
more obvious reasons, it may be that
they are kept silent by the very consti-
tuition of their nature, or-can we sup
pose it?-guilty, as they may be, retain
ing nevertheless a zeal for Gods glory
and mans welfare, they shrink from
displaying themselves black and filthy
in the view of men, because thencefor-
ward no good can be achieved by them,
no evil of the past be redeemed by bet
ter service. So, to their own unutter-
able torment, they go about among their
fellow creatures looking pure as new
fallen snow while their hearts are all