“Who speaks?” answered the reverend nervously. “Hester, is that you?”
“Yes, it is I,” she answered. They had not been alone together in over seven years because of their situation. They were both nervous and happy to see one another.
Fixing his eyes on her, he asked, “Hester, have you found peace?”
She smiled drearily and looked down at the symbol on her bosom. “Have you?”
“No, I have found nothing but darkness and despair! I preach purity to my followers, but I know the emptiness and agony of what I truly am. I feel like Satan is always laughing at me.”
“You are wrong to torture yourself like this,” said Hester. “You have repented deeply for years now. You must learn to leave your sin in the past,”
“No, Hester,” cried the reverend. “I’m not worthy to wear these holy garments that clothe me. You are lucky to wear The A on your chest. My mark burns within me! If only I had one friend to whom I could tell the truth of my sins!”
“I am that friend and your partner in sin,” said Hester. Then she struggled to give the reverend the message the was the reason for their meeting on this day. “You also have a great enemy, who lives under the same roof as you.”
“An enemy under my roof?” the reverend said with surprise. “What do you mean?”
“Oh Arthur,” cried Hester. “Please Forgive me. A long time ago, I agreed to deceive you. The old man, the doctor whom they call Roger Chilling worth, he was my husband!” A look of terrible violence came over the reverend’s face. He sank Down to the ground and buried his face in his hands.
“I should have known it!” groaned the reverend. “My heart told me he was hiding a terrible secret from the day I first met him. Why did I not understand? Oh, Hester Prynne! You are responsible for this! I can never Forgive you!” he shouted.
Hester Prynne threw her arms around the reverend and held him close to her. His cheek rested on the scarlet letter. He tried to struggle free, but she would not let him go. “You must forgive me,” she said over and over. “You must forgive me.”
“Yes,” cried the reverend softly. “I forgive you now. We are not the worst sinners in the world. That old man’s revenge is blacker than my sin. He is killing me in cold blood. What we did was not so bad as that.”
“No, what we did had a sacredness of its own. We told that to each other when we made love,” she whispered. “Have you forgotten?”
“No,” he whispered. “I have not forgotten.” This was the gloomiest hour of their lives. But in the darkness of it, there was a charm that made them linger together. There they sat amid the dark forest, holding hands and kissing.
“Roger Chillingworth knows that you will reveal his identity,” said the reverend. “Now he will point his finger at me in front of the whole town.
“No, I don’t think he’ll reveal your sin to the public,” she said. “He will find other secret ways to satisfy his dark passion for revenge. You must get away from this terrible man!”
“Yes, he’s killing me,” cried the reverend hysterically. “But what can I do, Hester? Help me. Please!”
“The sea brought you to this New World, and it can carry you back to the old one. You should go back to England, or you could live in Germany, France, or even in Italy.”
“But how could I leave my post here? Even though my soul is ruined, I’m needed to help others.”