The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1893-07-21
CHAPTER Xu.

mesdale, at whatever risk Of present pain
or Interior consequences, the true char
acter of the man who had crept into his
intimacy. For several days. however.
she vainly sought an opportunity of adj
dressing him in some of the meditative
walks which she knew him to be in the
habit of taking along the shores of the
! peninsula or on the wooded hills of the
neighboring country. There would have
been no scandal, indeed, nor peril to the
holy whiteness of the clergyman's good
| fame had she visited him in his own
study; where many penitent, ere now.
had confessed sins of perhaps as deep
dye as the one betokened by the scarlet
letter. But, partly that she dreaded the
secret or undisguised interference of old
Roger Chillingworth, and partly that
her conscious heart imputed suspicion
where none could have been felt, and
partly that both the minister and she
would need the whole wide world to
breathe in while they talked together
for all these reasons Hester never
thought of meeting him in any narrower
privacy than beneath the open sky.
At last, while attending in a sick
chamber, whittier the Reverend Mr..
Dimmesdale had been summoned to
make prayer, she learned that he had
gone the day before to visit the Apostle
Eliot among his Indian converts. He
would probably return by a certain
hour in the afternoon of the morrow.
Betimes, therefore, the next day Hester
took little Pearl, who was necessarily
the companion of all her mothers expe-
ditions, however inconvenient her pres
ence, and set forth.
The road, after the two wayfarers had
crossed from the peninsula to the main
land, was no other than a footpath. 1t
struggled onward into the mystery of the
primeval forest This hemmed it in so
narrowly and stood so black and dense
on either side, and disclosed such i'm
perfect glimpses Of the sky above, that to
Hester's mind it imaged not amiss the
moral wilderness in which she had so
long been wandering. The day was
chill and somber.
Overhead was gray expanse Of cloud,
slightly stirred, however, by a breeze.
so that CLEAN of Pickering sunshine
might now and then be seen at it's soil
tary play along the path. This fitting
cheerfulness was always at the farther
extremity of some long vista through
the forest. The sportive sunlight
feebly sportive at best in the predomi-
nant pensiveness of the day and scene
withdrew itself as they came nigh, and
left the spots where it had danced the
drearier because they had hoped to find
them bright.
Mother" said little Pearl, 1.-The sun
shine does not love you. 1t runs away
and hides itself because it is afraid of
something on your bosom. Now, see!
There it is, playing, a good way off.
Stand you here, and let me run and
catch it. l am but child. 1t will not
flee from me, for l wear nothing on my
bosom yet"
"Nor ever will. my child. hope"
said Hester.
'And why not, mother?' asked Pearl,
stopping short, just at the beginning of
her race. Twill not it come of its own
accord, when l am woman grown?"
"Run away, child" answered her
mother, ''and catch the sunshine! It
will soon be gone
Pearl set forth at a great pace, and, as
Hester smiled to perceive, did actually
in the midst of it, all frightened by its
splendor and scintillating with the vi
vacity excited by rapid motion. =
When her elf child had departed.
Hester Prynne made a step or two to-
ward the track that led through the for
est, but still remained under the deep
shadow of the trees. She beheld the
minister advancing along the path en-
tirely alone and leaning on a staff
which he had cut by the wayside. He
looked haggard and feeble and betrayed
nerveless dependency in his air
which had never so remarkably charac-
terized him in his walks about the set
Element, nor in any other situation
where he deemed himself liable to no.
tice. Here it was woefully visible, in
this intense seclusion of the forest.
which of itself would have been heavy
trial to the spirits. There was listless-
ness in his gait, as if he saw no reason
for taking one step farther, nor felt any
desire to do so, but would have been
glad, could he be glad of anything, 10
fling himself down at the root of the
nearest tree and lie there passive for
evermore. The leaves might bestrew
him and the soil gradually accumulate
and form little hillock over his frame,
no matter whether there were life in it
or no. Death was too definite an object
to be wished for or avoided.
To Hester's eye the Reverend Mr..
Dimmesdale exhibited no symptom of
positive and vivacious suffering except
that, as little Pearl had remarked. he
kept his hand over his heart.
Slowly as the minister walked, he had
almost gone by before Hester Prynne
could gather voice enough to attract his
observation. At length she succeeded.
''Arthur Dimmesdalel' she said faint
ly at first; then louder. but hoarseIy.
''Arthur DimmesdaleP'
"Who speaks!" answered the minis
ter.
Gathering himself quickly up, he
stood more erect, like man taken by
surprise in a mood TO which he was re-
luctant to have witnesses. Throwing
his eyes anxiously in the direction of the
voice, he indistinctly beheld form IN
der the trees clad In garments so SOM
Der and so little relieved from the gray
twilight into which the clouded sky and
the heavy foliage had darkened the
noontide, that he knew not whether it