The Scarlet Letter

"Peace, Hester--peace!" replied the old man, with gloomy

sternness--"it is not granted me to pardon. I have no such power

as thou tellest me of. My old faith, long forgotten, comes back

to me, and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy

first step awry, thou didst plant the germ of evil; but since

that moment it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have

wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion;

neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend's office from

his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it

may! Now, go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man."

He waved his hand, and betook himself again to his employment of

gathering herbs.