The Scarlet Letter

"What mean you?" inquired Hester, startled more than she

permitted to appear. "Have you another passenger?"

"Why, know you not," cried the shipmaster, "that this physician

here--Chillingworth he calls himself--is minded to try my

cabin-fare with you? Ay, ay, you must have known it; for he

tells me he is of your party, and a close friend to the

gentleman you spoke of--he that is in peril from these sour old

Puritan rulers."

"They know each other well, indeed," replied Hester, with a mien

of calmness, though in the utmost consternation. "They have long

dwelt together."

Nothing further passed between the mariner and Hester Prynne.

But at that instant she beheld old Roger Chillingworth himself,

standing in the remotest corner of the market-place and smiling

on her; a smile which--across the wide and bustling square, and

through all the talk and laughter, and various thoughts, moods,

and interests of the crowd--conveyed secret and fearful meaning.