The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1907-03-24

ments he liked to be amused by Hester's
conversation and to enjoy the light of
her beauty
For several years they had lived in Ant
werp. Then he had sent his wife across
tie ocean, intending to follow as soon
as he could arrange his affairs. News
came of his departure from the other
side, but the ship in which he sailed was
never heard from. He was supposed to be
| lying dead at the bottom of the sea.
Then that had happened which had
| happened, and Hester Prynne, the proud
| anu beautiful, stood in the scorn of all
mems eyes upon the pillory scaftold,
| with the mob about her and the great
men locking down upon her from above.
| She had refused steadfastly to reveal
| to the Magistrates the name of the part
ner of her guilt, and now. as she stood
| there with the sun shining so brightly
on the GOLD threads that surrounded her
| badge of shame as to make the Scarlet
| Letter seem branded upon her bosom,
| the famous John Wilson, Bostons Oldest
| clergyman, raised up his voice and de-
manded that the young Dimmesdale. un-
| der whose spiritual ministrations Hester
! had been should IDEAL with her" be-
| fore the community. He ended with:
what say you again, Brother Dimmes-
| dee? Shall it be thou or [ that shall
| deal with this poor sinners soul?' The
| Governor added his commands to the en-
| treaties of Elder Wilson, and at last the
! young clergyman. with CHASTITY white and
| drawn face, leaned over the balcony and
| addressed the wretched woman. telling
| her to speak and to spare not TO reveal
| to the world the partner of her crime.
| Hester still refused to reveal the name
aid declared that she would that she
could bear his sorrows as well as her
| own.
| TO an intimation that If she revealed
| the name the doom of the Scarlet Letter
| might be taken from her, she replied
! Never. 1t is too deeply burned into my
/, heart
| While Hester was thus beine, dealt
| with" as the phrase was, she CHANGED
| to glance towards the outskirts of the
! crowd and there cav that which caused
| the blood to leave her cheeks and for an
| instant her fortitude almost to forsake
| her. The town was close to the edge of
| the forest and out of the forest had come
man. old, misshapen. but known to the
| woman standing there only too WELL He
| had an Indian guide with him and
pressed forward to get a nearer look at
the woman standing on the scaffold.
Hester had now borne all that she could
bear, and for the rest of her stay upon
the scaffold stood with glazed eyes and
| an expression of wearied Indifference, her
listless looks falling most upon that bent
figure at the outskirts of the crowd. In
this dazed condition she was taken back
to prison and the people who followed
said that the Scarlet Letter shed red
light upon the dark passage of the prison
as she entered it,
After her return to the prison Hester
was found to be In a state of such ner-
vous excitement that it required constant
watchfulness to prevent her doing vio-
lence to herself. Finally her condition
became such that medical aid had to be.
called, and man was introduced who
had announced himself to the jailer as
Roger Chillingworth. scholar well
versed in all Christian modes of physi-
cal science, as well as in knowledge
gained by years residence among the
Indians
The man was Testers husband. the
scholar Prynne. whom she had recognized
on the outskirts of the crowd as she
+, stood upon the pillory scaffold The ship
in which he had sailed for the New
World had not been lost at sea, but had
been wrecked upon the coast, and for
year he had been captive among the In
dams. He had arrived in Boston to ar
range for his ransom from the Sycamore
whose captive he was.
Hester. who had been raving violently.
became still as death when Chillingworth,
as we must call him hereafter, entered
the room Few words were spoken be-
tween the two at first. When the jailer
left the room the supposed physician pre-
pared draft for the suffering woman
and handed 1t to her. She took it, say
ing: 81 have sought for death: would
even now welcome it, but think twice
ere your hand administers it to me"
II desire not your DEATH but that you
may endure your punishment replied he
'"rhas you may live to endure it, drink
this" And the woman drank with strange
eyes fixed upon the man whose face, old
! and gray, was taking on a look of dread
full hate and determination.
He told Hester that he should stay on
in Boston as a physician and that, while
| the punishment which she was now to
take up for her life was sufficient for
! her he should devote the res. of his
days to discovering and furnishing the
! man who had wronged them both.
LAS to u.s. said he, the scale hangs
| evenly balanced between us. We have
| deeply wronged each other. Mine was
| the first wrong in betraying thy budding
youth into an unnatural alliance"
lie charged Hester that she tell not the
secret of their relations to any living
uerson. The life and fate of the man
who had been her partner in crime would
! be in his power and upon him would fall
| vengeance if Hester betrayed the fact
| that Chlllingworth was her husband
Prynne. So the woman swore an oath
that she would keep his secret, even as
she had kept the secret OF her betrayer
When Hester's term of Imprisonment
| was ended she took up the burden of her
life with a quiet meekness that hitherto
had been foreign to her character. At
] the edge of the town. between the settle
ment and the wilderness, there was
deserted cottage with a ruined garden,
which she obtained permission to occupy
Her skill with the needle--that same skill
of rare embroidery which she had exer-
cised in the adornment of her Scarlet
Letter, gave her means of livelihood,
and the townspeople, though they avoid
ed her in the street, purchased her work
partly. it may be. from some remnant of
latent pity and partly because equal skill
WIS possessed by none other in the coll
ony.
Bet there was one garment on which
Lester Prynnd was never allowed to try