"Thou wilt love her dearly," repeated Hester Prynne, as she andthe minister sat watching little Pearl. "Dost thou not think herbeautiful? And see with what natural skill she has made thosesimple flowers adorn her! Had she gathered pearls, and diamonds,and rubies in the wood, they could not have become her better!She is a splendid child! But I know whose brow she has!"

"Dost thou know, Hester," said Arthur Dimmesdale, with anunquiet smile, "that this dear child, tripping about always atthy side, hath caused me many an alarm? Methought--oh, Hester,what a thought is that, and how terrible to dread it!--that myown features were partly repeated in her face, and so strikinglythat the world might see them! But she is mostly thine!"

"No, no! Not mostly!" answered the mother, with a tender smile."A little longer, and thou needest not to be afraid to tracewhose child she is. But how strangely beautiful she looks withthose wild flowers in her hair! It is as if one of the fairies,whom we left in dear old England, had decked her out to meetus."

It was with a feeling which neither of them had ever beforeexperienced, that they sat and watched Pearl's slow advance. Inher was visible the tie that united them. She had been offeredto the world, these seven past years, as the livinghieroglyphic, in which was revealed the secret they so darklysought to hide--all written in this symbol--all plainlymanifest--had there been a prophet or magician skilled to readthe character of flame! And Pearl was the oneness of theirbeing. Be the foregone evil what it might, how could they doubtthat their earthly lives and future destinies were conjoinedwhen they beheld at once the material union, and the spiritualidea, in whom they met, and were to dwell immortally together;thoughts like these--and perhaps other thoughts, which they didnot acknowledge or define--threw an awe about the child as shecame onward.

"Let her see nothing strange--no passion or eagerness--in thyway of accosting her," whispered Hester. "Our Pearl is a fitfuland fantastic little elf sometimes. Especially she is generallyintolerant of emotion, when she does not fully comprehend thewhy and wherefore. But the child hath strong affections! Sheloves me, and will love thee!"

"Thou canst not think," said the minister, glancing aside atHester Prynne, "how my heart dreads this interview, and yearnsfor it! But, in truth, as I already told thee, children are notreadily won to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee,nor prattle in my ear, nor answer to my smile, but stand apart,and eye me strangely. Even little babes, when I take them in myarms, weep bitterly. Yet Pearl, twice in her little lifetime,hath been kind to me! The first time--thou knowest it well! Thelast was when thou ledst her with thee to the house of yonderstern old Governor."

"And thou didst plead so bravely in her behalf and mine!"answered the mother. "I remember it; and so shall little Pearl.Fear nothing. She may be strange and shy at first, but will soonlearn to love thee!"

By this time Pearl had reached the margin of the brook, andstood on the further side, gazing silently at Hester and theclergyman, who still sat together on the mossy tree-trunkwaiting to receive her. Just where she had paused, the brookchanced to form a pool so smooth and quiet that it reflected aperfect image of her little figure, with all the brilliantpicturesqueness of her beauty, in its adornment of flowers andwreathed foliage, but more refined and spiritualized than thereality. This image, so nearly identical with the living Pearl,seemed to communicate somewhat of its own shadowy and intangiblequality to the child herself. It was strange, the way in whichPearl stood, looking so steadfastly at them through the dimmedium of the forest gloom, herself, meanwhile, all glorifiedwith a ray of sunshine, that was attracted thitherward as by acertain sympathy. In the brook beneath stood anotherchild--another and the same--with likewise its ray of goldenlight. Hester felt herself, in some indistinct and tantalizingmanner, estranged from Pearl, as if the child, in her lonelyramble through the forest, had strayed out of the sphere inwhich she and her mother dwelt together, and was now vainlyseeking to return to it.

There were both truth and error in the impression; the child andmother were estranged, but through Hester's fault, not Pearl's.Since the latter rambled from her side, another inmate had beenadmitted within the circle of the mother's feelings, and somodified the aspect of them all, that Pearl, the returningwanderer, could not find her wonted place, and hardly knew whereshe was.

"I have a strange fancy," observed the sensitive minister, "thatthis brook is the boundary between two worlds, and that thoucanst never meet thy Pearl again. Or is she an elfish spirit,who, as the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden tocross a running stream? Pray hasten her, for this delay hasalready imparted a tremor to my nerves."

"Come, dearest child!" said Hester encouragingly, and stretchingout both her arms. "How slow thou art! When hast thou been sosluggish before now? Here is a friend of mine, who must be thyfriend also. Thou wilt have twice as much love henceforward asthy mother alone could give thee! Leap across the brook and cometo us. Thou canst leap like a young deer!"

Pearl, without responding in any manner to these honey-sweetexpressions, remained on the other side of the brook. Now shefixed her bright wild eyes on her mother, now on the minister,and now included them both in the same glance, as if to detectand explain to herself the relation which they bore to oneanother. For some unaccountable reason, as Arthur Dimmesdalefelt the child's eyes upon himself, his hand--with that gestureso habitual as to have become involuntary--stole over his heart.At length, assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretchedout her hand, with the small forefinger extended, and pointingevidently towards her mother's breast. And beneath, in themirror of the brook, there was the flower-girdled and sunnyimage of little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too.

"Thou strange child! why dost thou not come to me?" exclaimedHester.

Pearl still pointed with her forefinger, and a frown gathered onher brow--the more impressive from the childish, the almostbaby-like aspect of the features that conveyed it. As her motherstill kept beckoning to her, and arraying her face in a holidaysuit of unaccustomed smiles, the child stamped her foot with ayet more imperious look and gesture. In the brook, again, wasthe fantastic beauty of the image, with its reflected frown, itspointed finger, and imperious gesture, giving emphasis to theaspect of little Pearl.

"Hasten, Pearl, or I shall be angry with thee!" cried HesterPrynne, who, however, inured to such behaviour on theelf-child's part at other seasons, was naturally anxious for amore seemly deportment now. "Leap across the brook, naughtychild, and run hither! Else I must come to thee!"

But Pearl, not a whit startled at her mother's threats any morethan mollified by her entreaties, now suddenly burst into a fitof passion, gesticulating violently, and throwing her smallfigure into the most extravagant contortions. She accompaniedthis wild outbreak with piercing shrieks, which the woodsreverberated on all sides, so that, alone as she was in herchildish and unreasonable wrath, it seemed as if a hiddenmultitude were lending her their sympathy and encouragement.Seen in the brook once more was the shadowy wrath of Pearl'simage, crowned and girdled with flowers, but stamping its foot,wildly gesticulating, and, in the midst of all, still pointingits small forefinger at Hester's bosom.

"I see what ails the child," whispered Hester to the clergyman,and turning pale in spite of a strong effort to conceal hertrouble and annoyance, "Children will not abide any, theslightest, change in the accustomed aspect of things that aredaily before their eyes. Pearl misses something that she hasalways seen me wear!"

"I pray you," answered the minister, "if thou hast any means ofpacifying the child, do it forthwith! Save it were the cankeredwrath of an old witch like Mistress Hibbins," added he,attempting to smile, "I know nothing that I would not soonerencounter than this passion in a child. In Pearl's young beauty,as in the wrinkled witch, it has a preternatural effect. Pacifyher if thou lovest me!"

Hester turned again towards Pearl with a crimson blush upon hercheek, a conscious glance aside clergyman, and then a heavysigh, while, even before she had time to speak, the blushyielded to a deadly pallor.

"Pearl," said she sadly, "look down at thy feet! There!--beforethee!--on the hither side of the brook!"

The child turned her eyes to the point indicated, and there laythe scarlet letter so close upon the margin of the stream thatthe gold embroidery was reflected in it.

"Bring it hither!" said Hester.

"Come thou and take it up!" answered Pearl.

"Was ever such a child!" observed Hester aside to the minister."Oh, I have much to tell thee about her! But, in very truth, sheis right as regards this hateful token. I must bear its tortureyet a little longer--only a few days longer--until we shall haveleft this region, and look back hither as to a land which wehave dreamed of. The forest cannot hide it! The mid-ocean shalltake it from my hand, and swallow it up for ever!"

With these words she advanced to the margin of the brook, tookup the scarlet letter, and fastened it again into her bosom.Hopefully, but a moment ago, as Hester had spoken of drowning itin the deep sea, there was a sense of inevitable doom upon heras she thus received back this deadly symbol from the hand offate. She had flung it into infinite space! she had drawn anhour's free breath! and here again was the scarlet miseryglittering on the old spot! So it ever is, whether thus typifiedor no, that an evil deed invests itself with the character ofdoom. Hester next gathered up the heavy tresses of her hair andconfined them beneath her cap. As if there were a witheringspell in the sad letter, her beauty, the warmth and richness ofher womanhood, departed like fading sunshine, and a gray shadowseemed to fall across her.

When the dreary change was wrought, she extended her hand toPearl.

"Dost thou know thy mother now, child?", asked she,reproachfully, but with a subdued tone. "Wilt thou come acrossthe brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame uponher--now that she is sad?"

"Yes; now I will!" answered the child, bounding across thebrook, and clasping Hester in her arms "Now thou art my motherindeed! and I am thy little Pearl!"

In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her, she drewdown her mother's head, and kissed her brow and both her cheeks.But then--by a kind of necessity that always impelled this childto alloy whatever comfort she might chance to give with a throbof anguish--Pearl put up her mouth and kissed the scarletletter, too.

"That was not kind!" said Hester. "When thou hast shown me alittle love, thou mockest me!"

"Why doth the minister sit yonder?" asked Pearl.

"He waits to welcome thee," replied her mother. "Come thou, andentreat his blessing! He loves thee, my little Pearl, and lovesthy mother, too. Wilt thou not love him? Come he longs to greetthee!"

"Doth he love us?" said Pearl, looking up with acuteintelligence into her mother's face. "Will he go back with us,hand in hand, we three together, into the town?"

"Not now, my child," answered Hester. "But in days to come hewill walk hand in hand with us. We will have a home and firesideof our own; and thou shalt sit upon his knee; and he will teachthee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him--wiltthou not?"

"And will he always keep his hand over his heart?" inquiredPearl.

"Foolish child, what a question is that!" exclaimed her mother."Come, and ask his blessing!"

But, whether influenced by the jealousy that seems instinctivewith every petted child towards a dangerous rival, or fromwhatever caprice of her freakish nature, Pearl would show nofavour to the clergyman. It was only by an exertion of forcethat her mother brought her up to him, hanging back, andmanifesting her reluctance by odd grimaces; of which, ever sinceher babyhood, she had possessed a singular variety, and couldtransform her mobile physiognomy into a series of differentaspects, with a new mischief in them, each and all. Theminister--painfully embarrassed, but hoping that a kiss mightprove a talisman to admit him into the child's kindlierregards--bent forward, and impressed one on her brow. Hereupon,Pearl broke away from her mother, and, running to the brook,stooped over it, and bathed her forehead, until the unwelcomekiss was quite washed off and diffused through a long lapse ofthe gliding water. She then remained apart, silently watchingHester and the clergyman; while they talked together and madesuch arrangements as were suggested by their new position andthe purposes soon to be fulfilled.

And now this fateful interview had come to a close. The dellwas to be left in solitude among its dark, old trees, which,with their multitudinous tongues, would whisper long of what hadpassed there, and no mortal be the wiser. And the melancholybrook would add this other tale to the mystery with which itslittle heart was already overburdened, and whereof it still keptup a murmuring babble, with not a whit more cheerfulness of tonethan for ages heretofore.