The Scarlet Letter

Pearl's inevitable tendency to hover about the enigma of the

scarlet letter seemed an innate quality of her being. From the

earliest epoch of her conscious life, she had entered upon this

as her appointed mission. Hester had often fancied that

Providence had a design of justice and retribution, in endowing

the child with this marked propensity; but never, until now, had

she bethought herself to ask, whether, linked with that design,

there might not likewise be a purpose of mercy and beneficence.

If little Pearl were entertained with faith and trust, as a

spirit messenger no less than an earthly child, might it not be

her errand to soothe away the sorrow that lay cold in her

mother's heart, and converted it into a tomb?--and to help her

to overcome the passion, once so wild, and even yet neither dead

nor asleep, but only imprisoned within the same tomb-like heart?

Such were some of the thoughts that now stirred in Hester's

mind, with as much vivacity of impression as if they had

actually been whispered into her ear. And there was little

Pearl, all this while, holding her mother's hand in both her

own, and turning her face upward, while she put these searching

questions, once and again, and still a third time.

"What does the letter mean, mother? and why dost thou wear it?

and why does the minister keep his hand over his heart?"

"What shall I say?" thought Hester to herself. "No! if this be

the price of the child's sympathy, I cannot pay it."

Then she spoke aloud-"Silly Pearl," said she, "what questions are these? There are

many things in this world that a child must not ask about. What

know I of the minister's heart? And as for the scarlet letter, I

wear it for the sake of its gold thread."

In all the seven bygone years, Hester Prynne had never before

been false to the symbol on her bosom. It may be that it was the

talisman of a stern and severe, but yet a guardian spirit, who

now forsook her; as recognising that, in spite of his strict

watch over her heart, some new evil had crept into it, or some

old one had never been expelled. As for little Pearl, the

earnestness soon passed out of her face.

But the child did not see fit to let the matter drop. Two or

three times, as her mother and she went homeward, and as often

at supper-time, and while Hester was putting her to bed, and

once after she seemed to be fairly asleep, Pearl looked up, with

mischief gleaming in her black eyes.

"Mother," said she, "what does the scarlet letter mean?"

And the next morning, the first indication the child gave of

being awake was by popping up her head from the pillow, and

making that other enquiry, which she had so unaccountably

connected with her investigations about the scarlet letter-"Mother!--Mother!--Why does the minister keep his hand over his

heart?"