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At
old
Roger
Chillingworth
's
decease
,
(
which
took
place
within
the
year
)
,
and
by
his
last
will
and
testament
,
of
which
Governor
Bellingham
and
the
Reverend
Mr.
Wilson
were
executors
,
he
bequeathed
a
very
considerable
amount
of
property
,
both
here
and
in
England
to
little
Pearl
,
the
daughter
of
Hester
Prynne
.
So
Pearl
--
the
elf
child
--
the
demon
offspring
,
as
some
people
up
to
that
epoch
persisted
in
considering
her
--
became
the
richest
heiress
of
her
day
in
the
New
World
.
Not
improbably
this
circumstance
wrought
a
very
material
change
in
the
public
estimation
;
and
had
the
mother
and
child
remained
here
,
little
Pearl
at
a
marriageable
period
of
life
might
have
mingled
her
wild
blood
with
the
lineage
of
the
devoutest
Puritan
among
them
all
.
But
,
in
no
long
time
after
the
physician
's
death
,
the
wearer
of
the
scarlet
letter
disappeared
,
and
Pearl
along
with
her
.
For
many
years
,
though
a
vague
report
would
now
and
then
find
its
way
across
the
sea
--
like
a
shapeless
piece
of
driftwood
tossed
ashore
with
the
initials
of
a
name
upon
it
--
yet
no
tidings
of
them
unquestionably
authentic
were
received
.
The
story
of
the
scarlet
letter
grew
into
a
legend
.
Its
spell
,
however
,
was
still
potent
,
and
kept
the
scaffold
awful
where
the
poor
minister
had
died
,
and
likewise
the
cottage
by
the
sea-shore
where
Hester
Prynne
had
dwelt
.
Near
this
latter
spot
,
one
afternoon
some
children
were
at
play
,
when
they
beheld
a
tall
woman
in
a
gray
robe
approach
the
cottage-door
.
In
all
those
years
it
had
never
once
been
opened
;
but
either
she
unlocked
it
or
the
decaying
wood
and
iron
yielded
to
her
hand
,
or
she
glided
shadow-like
through
these
impediments
--
and
,
at
all
events
,
went
in
.
On
the
threshold
she
paused
--
turned
partly
round
--
for
perchance
the
idea
of
entering
alone
and
all
so
changed
,
the
home
of
so
intense
a
former
life
,
was
more
dreary
and
desolate
than
even
she
could
bear
.
But
her
hesitation
was
only
for
an
instant
,
though
long
enough
to
display
a
scarlet
letter
on
her
breast
.
And
Hester
Prynne
had
returned
,
and
taken
up
her
long-forsaken
shame
!
But
where
was
little
Pearl
?
If
still
alive
she
must
now
have
been
in
the
flush
and
bloom
of
early
womanhood
.
None
knew
--
nor
ever
learned
with
the
fulness
of
perfect
certainty
--
whether
the
elf-child
had
gone
thus
untimely
to
a
maiden
grave
;
or
whether
her
wild
,
rich
nature
had
been
softened
and
subdued
and
made
capable
of
a
woman
's
gentle
happiness
.
But
through
the
remainder
of
Hester
's
life
there
were
indications
that
the
recluse
of
the
scarlet
letter
was
the
object
of
love
and
interest
with
some
inhabitant
of
another
land
.
Letters
came
,
with
armorial
seals
upon
them
,
though
of
bearings
unknown
to
English
heraldry
.
In
the
cottage
there
were
articles
of
comfort
and
luxury
such
as
Hester
never
cared
to
use
,
but
which
only
wealth
could
have
purchased
and
affection
have
imagined
for
her
.
There
were
trifles
too
,
little
ornaments
,
beautiful
tokens
of
a
continual
remembrance
,
that
must
have
been
wrought
by
delicate
fingers
at
the
impulse
of
a
fond
heart
.
And
once
Hester
was
seen
embroidering
a
baby-garment
with
such
a
lavish
richness
of
golden
fancy
as
would
have
raised
a
public
tumult
had
any
infant
thus
apparelled
,
been
shown
to
our
sober-hued
community
.
In
fine
,
the
gossips
of
that
day
believed
--
and
Mr.
Surveyor
Pue
,
who
made
investigations
a
century
later
,
believed
--
and
one
of
his
recent
successors
in
office
,
moreover
,
faithfully
believes
--
that
Pearl
was
not
only
alive
,
but
married
,
and
happy
,
and
mindful
of
her
mother
;
and
that
she
would
most
joyfully
have
entertained
that
sad
and
lonely
mother
at
her
fireside
.
But
there
was
a
more
real
life
for
Hester
Prynne
,
here
,
in
New
England
,
that
in
that
unknown
region
where
Pearl
had
found
a
home
.
Here
had
been
her
sin
;
here
,
her
sorrow
;
and
here
was
yet
to
be
her
penitence
.
She
had
returned
,
therefore
,
and
resumed
of
her
own
free
will
,
for
not
the
sternest
magistrate
of
that
iron
period
would
have
imposed
it
--
resumed
the
symbol
of
which
we
have
related
so
dark
a
tale
.
Never
afterwards
did
it
quit
her
bosom
.
But
,
in
the
lapse
of
the
toilsome
,
thoughtful
,
and
self-devoted
years
that
made
up
Hester
's
life
,
the
scarlet
letter
ceased
to
be
a
stigma
which
attracted
the
world
's
scorn
and
bitterness
,
and
became
a
type
of
something
to
be
sorrowed
over
,
and
looked
upon
with
awe
,
yet
with
reverence
too
.
And
,
as
Hester
Prynne
had
no
selfish
ends
,
nor
lived
in
any
measure
for
her
own
profit
and
enjoyment
,
people
brought
all
their
sorrows
and
perplexities
,
and
besought
her
counsel
,
as
one
who
had
herself
gone
through
a
mighty
trouble
.
Women
,
more
especially
--
in
the
continually
recurring
trials
of
wounded
,
wasted
,
wronged
,
misplaced
,
or
erring
and
sinful
passion
--
or
with
the
dreary
burden
of
a
heart
unyielded
,
because
unvalued
and
unsought
came
to
Hester
's
cottage
,
demanding
why
they
were
so
wretched
,
and
what
the
remedy
!
Hester
comforted
and
counselled
them
,
as
best
she
might
.
She
assured
them
,
too
,
of
her
firm
belief
that
,
at
some
brighter
period
,
when
the
world
should
have
grown
ripe
for
it
,
in
Heaven
's
own
time
,
a
new
truth
would
be
revealed
,
in
order
to
establish
the
whole
relation
between
man
and
woman
on
a
surer
ground
of
mutual
happiness
.
Earlier
in
life
,
Hester
had
vainly
imagined
that
she
herself
might
be
the
destined
prophetess
,
but
had
long
since
recognised
the
impossibility
that
any
mission
of
divine
and
mysterious
truth
should
be
confided
to
a
woman
stained
with
sin
,
bowed
down
with
shame
,
or
even
burdened
with
a
life-long
sorrow
.
The
angel
and
apostle
of
the
coming
revelation
must
be
a
woman
,
indeed
,
but
lofty
,
pure
,
and
beautiful
,
and
wise
;
moreover
,
not
through
dusky
grief
,
but
the
ethereal
medium
of
joy
;
and
showing
how
sacred
love
should
make
us
happy
,
by
the
truest
test
of
a
life
successful
to
such
an
end
.
So
said
Hester
Prynne
,
and
glanced
her
sad
eyes
downward
at
the
scarlet
letter
.
And
,
after
many
,
many
years
,
a
new
grave
was
delved
,
near
an
old
and
sunken
one
,
in
that
burial-ground
beside
which
King
's
Chapel
has
since
been
built
.
It
was
near
that
old
and
sunken
grave
,
yet
with
a
space
between
,
as
if
the
dust
of
the
two
sleepers
had
no
right
to
mingle
