| THE INTERVIEW 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. ister 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. "Foolish woman!" responded the physician, half coldly, half soothingly. "What should ail me to harm this misbegotten and miserable babe? The medicine is potent for good, and were it my child—yea, mine own, as well as thine! I could do no better for it." |
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LA ENTREVISTA DESPUS de su regreso a la crcel fue tal el estado de agitacin nerviosa de Ester, que se hizo necesaria la vigilancia ms asidua para impedir que intentase algo contra su persona, o que en un momento de arrebato hiciera algn dao a la pobre criaturita. Al acercarse la noche, y al ver que no era posible reducirla a la obediencia ni por medio de reprensiones ni de amenazas de castigo, el carcelero crey conveniente hacer venir a un mdico, que calific de hombre muy experto en todas las artes cristianas de ciencias fsicas, y que al mismo tiempo estaba familiarizado con todo lo que los salvajes podan ensear en materia de hierbas y races medicinales que crecen en los bosques. En realidad, no solamente Ester, sino mucho ms an la tierna nia, necesitaban con urgencia los auxilios de un mdico; la nia, que derivaba su sustento del seno maternal, pareca haber bebido toda la angustia, desesperacin y agitacin que llenaban el alma de su madre, y se retorca ahora en convulsiones de dolor. Era, en pequea escala, una imagen viva de la agona moral por que haba pasado Ester durante tantas horas.
Siguiendo de cerca al carcelero en aquella sombra morada, entr el individuo de aspecto singular cuya presencia en la multitud haba causado tan honda impresin en la portadora de la letra escarlata. Lo haban alojado en la crcel, no porque se le sospechase de algn delito, sino por ser la manera ms conveniente y cmoda de disponer de l hasta que los magistrados hubieran conferenciado con los jefes indios acerca del rescate. Se dijo que su nombre era Rogerio Chillingworth. El carcelero, despus de introducirlo en la habitacin, permaneci all un momento, sorprendido de la calma comparativa que haba causado su entrada, pues Ester se haba vuelto inmediatamente tan tranquila como la muerte, aunque la criaturita continuaba quejndose.
—Te ruego, amigo, que me dejes solo con la enferma, dijo el mdico. Creme, buen carcelero, pronto habr paz en esta morada; y te prometo que la Sra. Prynne se mostrar en adelante ms dcil a la autoridad y ms tratable que hasta ahora.
—Si Su Seora puede realizar eso, contest el carcelero, os tendr por un hombre indudablemente hbil. En verdad que esta mujer se ha portado como si estuviese poseda del enemigo malo; y poco falt para decidirme a arrojar de su cuerpo a Satans y a latigazos.
El extranjero haba entrado en la habitacin con la tranquilidad caracterstica de la profesin a que se deca pertenecer. Ni tampoco cambi de aspecto cuando la retirada del carcelero le dej faz a faz con la mujer que le haba reconocido en medio de la multitud, y cuya abstraccin profunda al reconocerle indicaba mucha intimidad entre ambos. Su primer cuidado fue atender a la tierna criaturita, cuyos gritos, mientras se retorca en su cama, hacan de absoluta necesidad posponer todo otro asunto a la tarea de calmar sus dolores. La examin cuidadosamente y procedi luego a abrir una bolsa de cuero, que llevaba bajo su traje, y pareca contener medicinas, una de las cuales mezcl con un poco de agua en una taza.
—Mis antiguos estudios en alquimia, dijo por va de observacin, y mi residencia de ms de un ao entre un pueblo muy versado en las propiedades de las hierbas, han hecho de m un mdico mejor que muchos que se han graduado. Oye, mujer, la nia es tuya, no tiene nada mo, ni reconocer mi voz ni mi rostro como los de un padre. strale por lo tanto esta pocin con tus propias manos.
Ester rechaz la medicina que le presentaban, fijando al mismo tiempo con visible temor las miradas en el rostro del hombre.
—Trataras de vengarte en la inocente criatura? dijo en voz baja.
—Loca mujer! respondi el mdico con acento entre fro y blando. Qu provecho me vendra a m de hacer dao a esta pobre y bastarda criatura? La medicina es buena y provechosa; y si fuera mi hija, mi propia hija as como tuya, no podra hacer nada mejor en beneficio suyo. |
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