# The Scarlet Letter: A Romance - Section 22 - The Child at the Brook-side

An episode of [The Scarlet Letter: A Romance - Audiobook by Nathaniel Hawthorne](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1771236763), 7 Sep 2024, 17 min.

Audio: https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/api.spreaker.com/download/episode/61321477/scarletletter_19_hawthorne_64kb.mp3



## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: Section twenty two of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne.
[0:04] Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain, Chapter nineteen.
[0:10] Speaker 1: The child at the brook side, thou wilt love her dearly,
[0:16] Speaker 1: repeated Hester Prynne, as she and the minister sat watching
[0:19] Speaker 1: little pearl. Dost thou not think her beautiful? And see
[0:24] Speaker 1: with what natural skill she has made those simple flowers
[0:27] Speaker 1: adorn her. Had she gathered pearls and diamonds and rubies
[0:31] Speaker 1: in the wood, they could not have become her better.
[0:35] Speaker 1: She is a splendid child, But I know whose brow
[0:39] Speaker 1: she has. Dost thou know? Hester, said Arthur Dimmesdale, with
[0:44] Speaker 1: an unquiet smile, that this dear child, tripping about always
[0:49] Speaker 1: at thy side, hath caused me many an alarm, methought,
[0:54] Speaker 1: oh Hester, what a thought is that? And how terrible
[0:58] Speaker 1: to dread it? That my own features were partly repeated
[1:01] Speaker 1: in her face, and so strikingly that the world might
[1:05] Speaker 1: see them. But she is mostly thine, No, no, not mostly,
[1:12] Speaker 1: answered the mother with a tender smile. A little longer,
[1:15] Speaker 1: And thou needest not be afraid to trace whose child
[1:18] Speaker 1: she is. But how strangely beautiful she looks with those
[1:23] Speaker 1: wild flowers in her hair. It is as if one
[1:26] Speaker 1: of the fairies whom we left in our dear old
[1:28] Speaker 1: England had decked her out to meet us. It was
[1:33] Speaker 1: with a feeling which neither of them had ever before
[1:35] Speaker 1: experienced that they sat and watched Pearl's slow advance in
[1:41] Speaker 1: her was visible the tie that united them. She had
[1:44] Speaker 1: been offered to the world. These seven years passed as
[1:48] Speaker 1: the living hieroglyph in which was revealed the secret they
[1:52] Speaker 1: so darkly sought to hide, all written in this symbol,
[1:56] Speaker 1: all plainly manifest had there been a prophet or magician's
[2:00] Speaker 1: guild to read the character of Flame and Pearl. Was
[2:03] Speaker 1: the oneness of their being. Be the foregone evil what
[2:07] Speaker 1: it might, How could they doubt that their earthly lives
[2:11] Speaker 1: and future destinies were conjoined when they beheld at once
[2:14] Speaker 1: the material union and the spiritual idea in whom they
[2:18] Speaker 1: met and were to dwell immortally together. Thoughts like these,
[2:24] Speaker 1: and perhaps other thoughts which they did not acknowledge or define.
[2:28] Speaker 1: Through an awe about the child as she came onward,
[2:33] Speaker 1: let us see nothing strange, no passion nor eagerness in
[2:37] Speaker 1: thy way of accosting her whispered Hester, Our Pearl is
[2:41] Speaker 1: a fitful and fantastic little elf. Sometimes especially, she is
[2:46] Speaker 1: seldom tolerant of emotion when she does not fully comprehend
[2:49] Speaker 1: the why and wherefore. But the child hath strong affections.
[2:54] Speaker 1: She loves me and will love THEE. Thou canst not think,
[3:00] Speaker 1: said the minister, glancing aside at Hester Pryne. How my
[3:04] Speaker 1: heart dreads this interview and yearns for it. But in truth,
[3:09] Speaker 1: as I already told, THEE children are not readily one
[3:12] Speaker 1: to be familiar with me. They will not climb my knee,
[3:16] Speaker 1: nor prattle in my ear, nor answer to my smile,
[3:20] Speaker 1: but stand apart and eye me strangely. Even little babes
[3:25] Speaker 1: when I take them in my arms weep bitterly. Yet
[3:29] Speaker 1: Pearl twice in her little lifetime hath been kind to me.
[3:34] Speaker 1: The first time Thou knowest it well. The last was
[3:38] Speaker 1: when thou ledst her with THEE to the house of
[3:40] Speaker 1: yonder stern Old Governor. And thou didst plead so bravely
[3:45] Speaker 1: in her behalf, and mine answered the mother. I remember it,
[3:50] Speaker 1: and sociall little Pearl fear nothing. She may be strange
[3:54] Speaker 1: and shy at first, but will soon learn to love thee.
[3:59] Speaker 1: By this, Pearl had reached the margin of the brook
[4:02] Speaker 1: and stood on the farther side, gazing silently at Hester
[4:06] Speaker 1: and the clergyman, who still sat together on the mossy
[4:09] Speaker 1: tree trunk, waiting to receive her. Just where she had paused,
[4:14] Speaker 1: the brook chanced to form a pool so smooth and
[4:18] Speaker 1: quiet that it reflected a perfect image of her little figure,
[4:21] Speaker 1: with all the brilliant picturesqueness of her beauty in its
[4:25] Speaker 1: adornment of flowers and wreathed foliage, but more refined and
[4:29] Speaker 1: spiritualized than a reality. This image, so nearly identical with
[4:35] Speaker 1: the living Pearl, seemed to communicate somewhat of its own
[4:39] Speaker 1: shadowy and intangible quality to the child herself. It was
[4:43] Speaker 1: strange the way in which Pearl stood, looking so steadfastly
[4:48] Speaker 1: at them through the dim medium of the forest gloom.
[4:51] Speaker 1: Herself meanwhile, all glorified with a ray of sunshine that
[4:56] Speaker 1: was attracted thitherward as by a certain sympathy. In the
[5:00] Speaker 1: brook beneath stood another child, another and the same with
[5:05] Speaker 1: likewise its ray of golden light. Hester felt herself, in
[5:10] Speaker 1: some indistinct and tantalizing manner, is stranged from Pearl, as
[5:15] Speaker 1: if the child, in her lonely rambles through the forest,
[5:18] Speaker 1: had strayed out of the sphere in which she and
[5:21] Speaker 1: her mother dwelt together and was now vainly seeking to
[5:24] Speaker 1: return to it. There was both truth and error in
[5:28] Speaker 1: the impression the child and mother were estranged, but through
[5:33] Speaker 1: Hester's fault, not Pearls. Since the latter rambled from her side,
[5:39] Speaker 1: another inmate had been admitted within the circle of the
[5:41] Speaker 1: mother's feelings, and so modified the aspect of them all
[5:46] Speaker 1: that Pearl, the returning wanderer, could not find her wonted place,
[5:51] Speaker 1: and hardly knew where she was. I have a strange fancy,
[5:56] Speaker 1: observed the sensitive minister, that this brook is the boundary
[6:00] Speaker 1: between two worlds, and that thou canst never meet thy
[6:03] Speaker 1: pearl again? Or is she an Elfish spirit, who, as
[6:08] Speaker 1: the legends of our childhood taught us, is forbidden to
[6:11] Speaker 1: cross a running stream. Pray hasten her, for this delay
[6:16] Speaker 1: has already imparted a tremor to my nerves. Come, dearest child,
[6:21] Speaker 1: said Hester, encouragingly, and stretching out both her arms. How
[6:26] Speaker 1: slow thou art, when hast thou been so sluggish before?
[6:30] Speaker 1: Now Here is a friend of mine who must be
[6:33] Speaker 1: thy friend. Also, thou wilt have twice as much love. Henceforward,
[6:37] Speaker 1: as thy mother alone could give thee leap across the
[6:41] Speaker 1: brook and come to us, thou canst leap like a
[6:44] Speaker 1: young deer. Pearl, without responding in any manner to these
[6:49] Speaker 1: honey sweet expressions, remained on the other side of the brook.
[6:54] Speaker 1: Now she fixed her bright, wild eyes on her mother,
[6:57] Speaker 1: now on the minister, and now included them both in
[7:01] Speaker 1: the same glance, as if to detect and explain to
[7:04] Speaker 1: herself the relation which they bore to one another. For
[7:08] Speaker 1: some unaccountable reason, as Arthur Dimmesdale felt the child's eyes
[7:13] Speaker 1: upon himself, his hand, with that gesture so habitual as
[7:17] Speaker 1: to have become involuntary, stole over his heart. At length,
[7:24] Speaker 1: assuming a singular air of authority, Pearl stretched out her
[7:27] Speaker 1: hand with the small forefinger extended and pointing evidently towards
[7:32] Speaker 1: her mother's breast, and beneath in the mirror of the
[7:36] Speaker 1: brook there was the flower girdled and sunny image of
[7:40] Speaker 1: little Pearl, pointing her small forefinger too. Thou strange child,
[7:46] Speaker 1: why dost thou not come to me? Exclaimed hester Pearl,
[7:50] Speaker 1: still pointed with her forefinger and a frown gathered on
[7:54] Speaker 1: her brow. The more impressive from the childish, the almost
[7:58] Speaker 1: babylike aspect of the features that conveyed it. As her
[8:02] Speaker 1: mother still kept beckoning to her and arraying her face
[8:06] Speaker 1: in a holiday suit of unaccustomed smiles, the child stamped
[8:10] Speaker 1: her foot with a yet more imperious look and gesture.
[8:15] Speaker 1: In the brook. Again was the fantastic beauty of the image,
[8:18] Speaker 1: with its reflected frown, its pointed finger, and imperious gesture,
[8:23] Speaker 1: giving emphasis to the aspects of a little pearl. Hasten, pearl,
[8:28] Speaker 1: or I shall be angry with thee, cried Hester Prynne, who, however,
[8:33] Speaker 1: inured to such behavior on the elf child's part at
[8:36] Speaker 1: other seasons, was naturally anxious for a more seemly deportment.
[8:40] Speaker 1: Now leap across the brook, naughty child, and run hither
[8:45] Speaker 1: else I must come to thee. But Pearl, not a whit,
[8:49] Speaker 1: startled at her mother's threats any more than mollified by
[8:53] Speaker 1: her entreaties, now suddenly burst into a fit of passion,
[8:57] Speaker 1: gesticulating violently and throwing her small figure into the most
[9:01] Speaker 1: extravagant contortions. She accompanied this wild outbreak with piercing shrieks,
[9:07] Speaker 1: which the woods reverberated on all sides, so that alone,
[9:12] Speaker 1: as she was in her childish and unreasonable wrath, it
[9:16] Speaker 1: seemed as if a hidden multitude were lending her their
[9:18] Speaker 1: sympathy and encouragement. Seen in the brook once more was
[9:23] Speaker 1: the shadowy wrath of Pearl's image, crowned and girdled with flowers,
[9:28] Speaker 1: but stamping its foot wildly, gesticulating, and in the midst
[9:33] Speaker 1: of all, still pointing its small forefinger at Hester's bosom.
[9:39] Speaker 1: I see what ails the child, whispered Hester to the clergyman,
[9:43] Speaker 1: and turning pale. In spite of a strong effort to
[9:46] Speaker 1: conceal her trouble and annoyance. Children will not abide any
[9:51] Speaker 1: the slightest change in the accustomed aspect of things that
[9:54] Speaker 1: are daily before their eyes. Pearl misses something which she
[9:58] Speaker 1: has always seen me wear, I pray you, answered the minister.
[10:04] Speaker 1: If thou hast any means of pacifying the child, do
[10:07] Speaker 1: it forthwith save it were the cankered wrath of an
[10:10] Speaker 1: old witch like mistress. Hibbins added, he attempting to smile.
[10:15] Speaker 1: I know nothing that I would not sooner encounter than
[10:18] Speaker 1: this passion in a child, in Pearl's young beauty, as
[10:22] Speaker 1: in the Wrinkled Witch, it has a preternatural effect. Pacify
[10:27] Speaker 1: her if thou lovest me. Hester turned again towards Pearl,
[10:32] Speaker 1: with a crimson blush upon her cheek, a conscious glance
[10:35] Speaker 1: asighed at the clergyman, and then a heavy sigh. While
[10:40] Speaker 1: even before she had time to speak, the blush yielded
[10:44] Speaker 1: to a deadly pallor. Pearl said, she sadly look down
[10:50] Speaker 1: at thy feet there before thee, on the hither side
[10:54] Speaker 1: of the brook. The child turned her eyes to the
[10:57] Speaker 1: point indicated, and there the scarlet letter so close upon
[11:02] Speaker 1: the margin of the stream, that the gold embroidery was
[11:05] Speaker 1: reflected in it. Bring it hither, said Hester, Come thou
[11:11] Speaker 1: and take it up, answered Pearl. Was ever such a child,
[11:17] Speaker 1: observed Hester, aside to the minister, Oh, I have much
[11:21] Speaker 1: to tell thee about her, But in very truth she
[11:25] Speaker 1: is right as regards this hateful token. I must bear
[11:28] Speaker 1: its torture yet a little longer, only a few days longer,
[11:33] Speaker 1: until we shall have left this region and look back
[11:36] Speaker 1: hither as to a land which we have dreamed of.
[11:39] Speaker 1: The forest cannot hide it. The mid ocean shall take
[11:42] Speaker 1: it from my hand and swallow it up forever. With
[11:47] Speaker 1: these words, she advanced to the margin of the brook,
[11:50] Speaker 1: took up the scarlet letter, and fastened it again into
[11:53] Speaker 1: her bosom hopefully. But a moment ago, as Hester had
[11:59] Speaker 1: spoken of draft it in the deep sea, there was
[12:02] Speaker 1: a sense of inevitable doom upon her. As she thus
[12:05] Speaker 1: received back this deadly symbol from the hand of fate,
[12:09] Speaker 1: she had flung it into infinite space. She had drawn
[12:13] Speaker 1: an hour's free breath, and here again was the scarlet
[12:17] Speaker 1: misery glittering on the old spot. So it ever is,
[12:22] Speaker 1: whether thus typified or no, that an evil deed invests
[12:25] Speaker 1: itself with the character of doom. Hester next gathered up
[12:30] Speaker 1: the heavy tresses of her hair and confined them beneath
[12:33] Speaker 1: her cap, as if there were a withering spell in
[12:36] Speaker 1: the sad letter. Her beauty, the warmth and richness of
[12:41] Speaker 1: her womanhood departed like fading sunshine, and a gray shadow
[12:46] Speaker 1: seemed to fall across her. When the dreary change was wrought,
[12:51] Speaker 1: she extended her hand to pearl. Dost thou know thy mother? Now?
[12:56] Speaker 1: Child asked she reproachfully, but with us dued tone wilt
[13:02] Speaker 1: thou come across the brook and own thy mother, now
[13:05] Speaker 1: that she has her shame upon her, now that she
[13:07] Speaker 1: is sad. Yes, now I will, answered the child, bounding
[13:13] Speaker 1: across the brook and clasping Hester in her arms. Now
[13:17] Speaker 1: thou art my mother, indeed, and I am thy little Pearl.
[13:22] Speaker 1: In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her,
[13:25] Speaker 1: she drew down her mother's head and kissed her brow
[13:27] Speaker 1: and both her cheeks. But then, by a kind of
[13:32] Speaker 1: necessity that always impelled this child to alloy whatever comfort
[13:36] Speaker 1: she might chance to give, with a throb of anguish,
[13:39] Speaker 1: Pearl put up her mouth and kissed the scarlet letter too.
[13:44] Speaker 1: That was not kind, said Hester, When thou hast shown
[13:48] Speaker 1: me a little love, thou mockest me. Why doth the
[13:52] Speaker 1: milister sit yonder, asked Pearl. He waits to welcome thee,
[13:57] Speaker 1: replied her mother. Come there and entreat his blessing. He
[14:02] Speaker 1: loves thee, my little pearl, and loves thy mother too.
[14:05] Speaker 1: Wilt thou not love him? Come? He longs to greet thee.
[14:10] Speaker 1: Doth he love us? Said Pearl, looking up with acute
[14:14] Speaker 1: intelligence into her mother's face. Will he go back with
[14:18] Speaker 1: us hand in hand? We three together into the town.
[14:23] Speaker 1: Not now, dear child, answered Hester, But in days to
[14:27] Speaker 1: come he will walk hand in hand with us. We
[14:30] Speaker 1: will have a home and fireside of our own, And
[14:33] Speaker 1: thou shalt sit upon his knee, and he will teach
[14:36] Speaker 1: thee many things, and love THEE dearly. Thou wilt love him,
[14:40] Speaker 1: wilt thou not? And will he always keep his hand
[14:44] Speaker 1: over his heart? Inquired Pearl, foolish child, what a question
[14:49] Speaker 1: is that? Exclaimed her mother, Come and ask his blessing.
[14:55] Speaker 1: But whether influenced by the jealousy that seems instinctive with
[14:59] Speaker 1: every pettied child towards a dangerous rival, or from whatever
[15:03] Speaker 1: caprice of her freakish nature, Pearl would show no favor
[15:07] Speaker 1: to the clergyman. It was only by an exertion of
[15:10] Speaker 1: force that her mother brought her up to him, hanging
[15:13] Speaker 1: back and manifesting her reluctance by odd grimaces, of which
[15:17] Speaker 1: ever since her babyhood she had possessed a singular variety,
[15:21] Speaker 1: and could transform her mobile physiognomy into a series of
[15:25] Speaker 1: different aspects with a new mischief in them, each and all.
[15:30] Speaker 1: The minister, painfully embarrassed, but hoping that a kiss might
[15:34] Speaker 1: prove a talisman to admit him into the child's kindlier regards,
[15:38] Speaker 1: bent forward and impressed one on her brow. Hereupon Pearl
[15:43] Speaker 1: broke away from her mother, and running to the brook,
[15:47] Speaker 1: stooped over it and bathed her forehead until the unwelcome
[15:51] Speaker 1: kiss was quite washed off and diffused through a long
[15:54] Speaker 1: lapse of the gliding water. She then remained apart silently
[15:59] Speaker 1: what Hester and the clergyman, while they talked together and
[16:03] Speaker 1: made such arrangements as were suggested by their new position
[16:06] Speaker 1: and the purposes soon to be fulfilled. And now this
[16:11] Speaker 1: fateful interview had come to a close, the doll was
[16:14] Speaker 1: to be left a solitude among its dark old trees, which,
[16:19] Speaker 1: with their multitudinous tongues would whisper long of what had
[16:23] Speaker 1: passed there, And no mortal be the wiser and the
[16:27] Speaker 1: melancholy Brook would add this other tale to the mystery
[16:30] Speaker 1: with which its little heart was already overburdened, and whereof
[16:33] Speaker 1: it still kept up a murmuring babble with not a
[16:36] Speaker 1: wit more cheerfulness of tone than for ages heretofore. End
[16:42] Speaker 1: of Section twenty two

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