The Scarlet Letter

They sat down again, side by side, and hand clasped in hand, on

the mossy trunk of the fallen tree. Life had never brought them

a gloomier hour; it was the point whither their pathway had so

long been tending, and darkening ever, as it stole along--and

yet it unclosed a charm that made them linger upon it, and claim

another, and another, and, after all, another moment. The forest

was obscure around them, and creaked with a blast that was

passing through it. The boughs were tossing heavily above their

heads; while one solemn old tree groaned dolefully to another,

as if telling the sad story of the pair that sat beneath, or

constrained to forbode evil to come.

And yet they lingered. How dreary looked the forest-track that

led backward to the settlement, where Hester Prynne must take up

again the burden of her ignominy and the minister the hollow

mockery of his good name! So they lingered an instant longer. No

golden light had ever been so precious as the gloom of this dark

forest. Here seen only by his eyes, the scarlet letter need not

burn into the bosom of the fallen woman! Here seen only by her

eyes, Arthur Dimmesdale, false to God and man, might be, for one

moment true!

He started at a thought that suddenly occurred to him.

"Hester!" cried he, "here is a new horror! Roger Chillingworth

knows your purpose to reveal his true character. Will he

continue, then, to keep our secret? What will now be the course

of his revenge?"

"There is a strange secrecy in his nature," replied Hester,

thoughtfully; "and it has grown upon him by the hidden practices

of his revenge. I deem it not likely that he will betray the

secret. He will doubtless seek other means of satiating his dark

passion."

"And I!--how am I to live longer, breathing the same air with

this deadly enemy?" exclaimed Arthur Dimmesdale, shrinking

within himself, and pressing his hand nervously against his

heart--a gesture that had grown involuntary with him. "Think for

me, Hester! Thou art strong. Resolve for me!"

"Thou must dwell no longer with this man," said Hester, slowly

and firmly. "Thy heart must be no longer under his evil eye!"

"It were far worse than death!" replied the minister. "But how

to avoid it? What choice remains to me? Shall I lie down again

on these withered leaves, where I cast myself when thou didst

tell me what he was? Must I sink down there, and die at once?"

"Alas! what a ruin has befallen thee!" said Hester, with the

tears gushing into her eyes. "Wilt thou die for very weakness?

There is no other cause!"

"The judgment of God is on me," answered the conscience-stricken

priest. "It is too mighty for me to struggle with!"