The Scarlet Letter

"Ask me not!" replied Hester Prynne, looking firmly into his

face. "That thou shalt never know!"

"Never, sayest thou?" rejoined he, with a smile of dark and

self-relying intelligence. "Never know him! Believe me, Hester,

there are few things whether in the outward world, or, to a

certain depth, in the invisible sphere of thought--few things

hidden from the man who devotes himself earnestly and

unreservedly to the solution of a mystery. Thou mayest cover up

thy secret from the prying multitude. Thou mayest conceal it,

too, from the ministers and magistrates, even as thou didst this

day, when they sought to wrench the name out of thy heart, and

give thee a partner on thy pedestal. But, as for me, I come to

the inquest with other senses than they possess. I shall seek

this man, as I have sought truth in books: as I have sought gold

in alchemy. There is a sympathy that will make me conscious of

him. I shall see him tremble. I shall feel myself shudder,

suddenly and unawares. Sooner or later, he must needs be mine."

The eyes of the wrinkled scholar glowed so intensely upon her,

that Hester Prynne clasped her hand over her heart, dreading

lest he should read the secret there at once.

"Thou wilt not reveal his name? Not the less he is mine,"

resumed he, with a look of confidence, as if destiny were at one

with him. "He bears no letter of infamy wrought into his

garment, as thou dost, but I shall read it on his heart. Yet

fear not for him! Think not that I shall interfere with Heaven's

own method of retribution, or, to my own loss, betray him to the

gripe of human law. Neither do thou imagine that I shall

contrive aught against his life; no, nor against his fame, if as

I judge, he be a man of fair repute. Let him live! Let him hide

himself in outward honour, if he may! Not the less he shall be

mine!"

"Thy acts are like mercy," said Hester, bewildered and appalled;

"but thy words interpret thee as a terror!"

"One thing, thou that wast my wife, I would enjoin upon thee,"

continued the scholar. "Thou hast kept the secret of thy

paramour. Keep, likewise, mine! There are none in this land that

know me. Breathe not to any human soul that thou didst ever call

me husband! Here, on this wild outskirt of the earth, I shall

pitch my tent; for, elsewhere a wanderer, and isolated from

human interests, I find here a woman, a man, a child, amongst

whom and myself there exist the closest ligaments. No matter

whether of love or hate: no matter whether of right or wrong!

Thou and thine, Hester Prynne, belong to me. My home is where

thou art and where he is. But betray me not!"