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Discerning
the
impracticable
state
of
the
poor
culprit
's
mind
,
the
elder
clergyman
,
who
had
carefully
prepared
himself
for
the
occasion
,
addressed
to
the
multitude
a
discourse
on
sin
,
in
all
its
branches
,
but
with
continual
reference
to
the
ignominious
letter
.
So
forcibly
did
he
dwell
upon
this
symbol
,
for
the
hour
or
more
during
which
is
periods
were
rolling
over
the
people
's
heads
,
that
it
assumed
new
terrors
in
their
imagination
,
and
seemed
to
derive
its
scarlet
hue
from
the
flames
of
the
infernal
pit
.
Hester
Prynne
,
meanwhile
,
kept
her
place
upon
the
pedestal
of
shame
,
with
glazed
eyes
,
and
an
air
of
weary
indifference
.
She
had
borne
that
morning
all
that
nature
could
endure
;
and
as
her
temperament
was
not
of
the
order
that
escapes
from
too
intense
suffering
by
a
swoon
,
her
spirit
could
only
shelter
itself
beneath
a
stony
crust
of
insensibility
,
while
the
faculties
of
animal
life
remained
entire
.
In
this
state
,
the
voice
of
the
preacher
thundered
remorselessly
,
but
unavailingly
,
upon
her
ears
.
The
infant
,
during
the
latter
portion
of
her
ordeal
,
pierced
the
air
with
its
wailings
and
screams
;
she
strove
to
hush
it
mechanically
,
but
seemed
scarcely
to
sympathise
with
its
trouble
With
the
same
hard
demeanour
,
she
was
led
back
to
prison
,
and
vanished
from
the
public
gaze
within
its
iron-clamped
portal
.
It
was
whispered
by
those
who
peered
after
her
that
the
scarlet
letter
threw
a
lurid
gleam
along
the
dark
passage-way
of
the
interior
.
After
her
return
to
the
prison
,
Hester
Prynne
was
found
to
be
in
a
state
of
nervous
excitement
,
that
demanded
constant
watchfulness
,
lest
she
should
perpetrate
violence
on
herself
,
or
do
some
half-frenzied
mischief
to
the
poor
babe
.
As
night
approached
,
it
proving
impossible
to
quell
her
insubordination
by
rebuke
or
threats
of
punishment
,
Master
Brackett
,
the
jailer
,
thought
fit
to
introduce
a
physician
.
He
described
him
as
a
man
of
skill
in
all
Christian
modes
of
physical
science
,
and
likewise
familiar
with
whatever
the
savage
people
could
teach
in
respect
to
medicinal
herbs
and
roots
that
grew
in
the
forest
.
To
say
the
truth
,
there
was
much
need
of
professional
assistance
,
not
merely
for
Hester
herself
,
but
still
more
urgently
for
the
child
--
who
,
drawing
its
sustenance
from
the
maternal
bosom
,
seemed
to
have
drank
in
with
it
all
the
turmoil
,
the
anguish
and
despair
,
which
pervaded
the
mother
's
system
.
It
now
writhed
in
convulsions
of
pain
,
and
was
a
forcible
type
,
in
its
little
frame
,
of
the
moral
agony
which
Hester
Prynne
had
borne
throughout
the
day
.
Closely
following
the
jailer
into
the
dismal
apartment
,
appeared
that
individual
,
of
singular
aspect
whose
presence
in
the
crowd
had
been
of
such
deep
interest
to
the
wearer
of
the
scarlet
letter
.
He
was
lodged
in
the
prison
,
not
as
suspected
of
any
offence
,
but
as
the
most
convenient
and
suitable
mode
of
disposing
of
him
,
until
the
magistrates
should
have
conferred
with
the
Indian
sagamores
respecting
his
ransom
.
His
name
was
announced
as
Roger
Chillingworth
.
The
jailer
,
after
ushering
him
into
the
room
,
remained
a
moment
,
marvelling
at
the
comparative
quiet
that
followed
his
entrance
;
for
Hester
Prynne
had
immediately
become
as
still
as
death
,
although
the
child
continued
to
moan
.
"
Prithee
,
friend
,
leave
me
alone
with
my
patient
,
"
said
the
practitioner
.
"
Trust
me
,
good
jailer
,
you
shall
briefly
have
peace
in
your
house
;
and
,
I
promise
you
,
Mistress
Prynne
shall
hereafter
be
more
amenable
to
just
authority
than
you
may
have
found
her
heretofore
.
"
"
Nay
,
if
your
worship
can
accomplish
that
,
"
answered
Master
Brackett
,
"
I
shall
own
you
for
a
man
of
skill
,
indeed
!
Verily
,
the
woman
hath
been
like
a
possessed
one
;
and
there
lacks
little
that
I
should
take
in
hand
,
to
drive
Satan
out
of
her
with
stripes
.
"
The
stranger
had
entered
the
room
with
the
characteristic
quietude
of
the
profession
to
which
he
announced
himself
as
belonging
.
Nor
did
his
demeanour
change
when
the
withdrawal
of
the
prison
keeper
left
him
face
to
face
with
the
woman
,
whose
absorbed
notice
of
him
,
in
the
crowd
,
had
intimated
so
close
a
relation
between
himself
and
her
.
His
first
care
was
given
to
the
child
,
whose
cries
,
indeed
,
as
she
lay
writhing
on
the
trundle-bed
,
made
it
of
peremptory
necessity
to
postpone
all
other
business
to
the
task
of
soothing
her
.
He
examined
the
infant
carefully
,
and
then
proceeded
to
unclasp
a
leathern
case
,
which
he
took
from
beneath
his
dress
.
It
appeared
to
contain
medical
preparations
,
one
of
which
he
mingled
with
a
cup
of
water
.
"
My
old
studies
in
alchemy
,
"
observed
he
,
"
and
my
sojourn
,
for
above
a
year
past
,
among
a
people
well
versed
in
the
kindly
properties
of
simples
,
have
made
a
better
physician
of
me
than
many
that
claim
the
medical
degree
.
Here
,
woman
!
The
child
is
yours
--
she
is
none
of
mine
--
neither
will
she
recognise
my
voice
or
aspect
as
a
father
's
.
Administer
this
draught
,
therefore
,
with
thine
own
hand
.
"
Hester
repelled
the
offered
medicine
,
at
the
same
time
gazing
with
strongly
marked
apprehension
into
his
face
.
"
Wouldst
thou
avenge
thyself
on
the
innocent
babe
?
"
whispered
she
.
