San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-06-24

ness and-agony of heart, at the contras
between what l seem and what / am
And satan laughs at itr
"You !wronged yourself in this" sal,
Hester gently. "You have deeply anl
.sorely repented. Your sin is left behint
you in the days long past. Your pres
-ent life is not less holy, in very truth
than it seems in peoples eyes. Is Their,
no reality in the penitence thus sealed
and witnessed by good works? Ant
wherefore,should it not bring you peace?'
mo, Hester, no" replied the clergy
man. "There is no substance in it. Il
is cold and dead and can do nothing fol-
me. Of penance | have had enough
Of penitenoe there has been none. Else
should long ago have thrown off these
garments of mock holiness and have
shown myself to mankind as they will
see me at the judgment seat. Happy
are you, Hester, that wear the scarle'
letter openly upon your bosom. Mine
burns in secret. Thou little knowest
what relief it is, after the torment of
seven years cheat, to look into an eye
that recognizes me for what am. Had
| one friend-or were it my worst enc
my-to whom, when sickened with the
praises of all other men, could daily
betake myself and be known as the
vilest of all sinners, methinks 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, uttering
his long restrained emotions SC vehe-
.mently as he did, his words here offered
her the very point Of circumstances in
which to interpose what she came to say.
She conquered her fears and spoke.
"Such friend as thou hast even now
wished for" said she, with whom to
weep over thy sin thou hast in me the
partner of it!' Again she hesitated, b.
brought out the words, with an effor,,
Thou hast long had such an enemy,
and dwellest with him under the same
roof.
The minister started to his feet, gasp
ing for breath and clutching at his heart
as if ne wonld have torn it out of his
bosom.
"Ha! What sayest thou? cried he.
IAN enemy! and under mine own roof!
What mean your
Hester Prynne was now fully sensible
of the deep injury for which she was re-
spopsible to this unhappy man in per-
hitting him to lie for SO many years, or,
indeed, for single moment, at the
mercy of one whose purposes could not
be other than malevolent. The very
eontiguity of his enemy, beneath what
ever mask the latter might conceal him
self, was enough to disturb the magnetic
sphere of being so sensitive as Arthur
Dimmesdale. There had been period
when Hester was less alive to this con-
sideration; or perhaps in the misanthro-
py of her own trouble she left the minis
ter to bear what she might picture to
herself as more tolerable doom. But of
late, since the night of his vigil, all her
sympathies toward him had been both
softened and invigorated. She now read
his heart more accurately. She doubted
not that the continual presence of Roger
Chillingworth-the secret poison of his
malignity injecting all the air about
him-and his authorized interference as
physician with the minister's physical
and spiritual infirmities-thatt these bad
opportunities had been turned to cruel
purpose. By means of them the suffer
ers conscience had been kept in an irri-
tated state, the tendency of which was
not to cure by wholesome pain, but to
disorganize and corrupt his spiritual
being. Its result on earth could hardly
fail to be insanity, and hereafter that
eternal alienation from the good and
true, of which madness is perhaps the
earthly type
Such was the ruin to which she had
brought the man once-nay, why should
we not speak it-still so passionately
lovedl Hester felt that the sacrifice of
the clergyman's good name, and death
itself, as she had already told Roger
Chillingworth, would have been infinite
ly preferable to the alternative which
she had taken upon herself to choose.
And now, rather than have had this
grievous wrong to confess, she would
gladly have lain down on the forest
leaves and died there at Arthur Dimmes-
dale's feet.
80 Arthur" cried she, "forgive me!
In all things else have striven to be
truel Truth was the one virtue which
l might have held fast, and did hold
fast through all extremity, save when
thy good, thy life, thy fame, were put
in question: Then consented to a de-
ception. But a lie is never good, even
though death threaten on the other sidel
Dost thou not see what l would say?
That old man, the physician-he whom
they call Roger Chillingworth-he was