| THE CHILD AT THE BROOKSIDE The child turned her eyes to the point indicated, and there lay the scarlet letter so close upon the margin of the stream that the 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, she is right as regards this hateful token. I must bear its torture yet a little longer—only a few days longer—until we shall have left this region, and look back hither as to a land which we have dreamed of. The forest cannot hide it! The mid-ocean shall take it from my hand, and swallow it up for ever!"
With these words she advanced to the margin of the brook, took up the scarlet letter, and fastened it again into her bosom. Hopefully, but a moment ago, as Hester had spoken of drowning it in the deep sea, there was a sense of inevitable doom upon her as she thus received back this deadly symbol from the hand of fate. She had flung it into infinite space! she had drawn an hour's free breath! and here again was the scarlet misery glittering on the old spot! So it ever is, whether thus typified or no, that an evil deed invests itself with the character of doom. Hester next gathered up the heavy tresses of her hair and confined them beneath her cap. As if there were a withering spell in the sad letter, her beauty, the warmth and richness of her womanhood, departed like fading sunshine, and a gray shadow seemed to fall across her.
When the dreary change was wrought, she extended her hand to
Pearl. "Dost thou know thy mother now, child?", asked she, reproachfully, but with a subdued tone. "Wilt thou come across the brook, and own thy mother, now that she has her shame upon her—now that she is sad?"
"Yes; now I will!" answered the child, bounding across the brook, and clasping Hester in her arms "Now thou art my mother indeed! and I am thy little Pearl!"
In a mood of tenderness that was not usual with her, she drew down her mother's head, and kissed her brow and both her cheeks. But then—by a kind of necessity that always impelled this child to alloy whatever comfort she might chance to give with a throb of anguish—Pearl put up her mouth and kissed the scarlet letter, too.
"That was not kind!" said Hester. "When thou hast shown me a little love, thou mockest me!"
"Why doth the minister sit yonder?" asked Pearl.
"He waits to welcome thee," replied her mother. "Come thou, and entreat his blessing! He loves thee, my little Pearl, and loves thy mother, too. Wilt thou not love him? Come he longs to greet thee!"
"Doth he love us?" said Pearl, looking up with acute intelligence 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 he will walk hand in hand with us. We will have a home and fireside of our own; and thou shalt sit upon his knee; and he will teach thee many things, and love thee dearly. Thou wilt love him—wilt thou not?"
"And will he always keep his hand over his heart?" inquired
Pearl.
"Foolish child, what a question is that!" exclaimed her mother.
"Come, and ask his blessing!" But, whether influenced by the jealousy that seems instinctive with every petted child towards a dangerous rival, or from whatever caprice of her freakish nature, Pearl would show no favour to the clergyman. It was only by an exertion of force that her mother brought her up to him, hanging back, and manifesting her reluctance by odd grimaces; of which, ever since her babyhood, she had possessed a singular variety, and could transform her mobile physiognomy into a series of different aspects, with a new mischief in them, each and all. The minister—painfully embarrassed, but hoping that a kiss might prove a talisman to it him into the child's kindlier regards—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 unwelcome kiss was quite washed off and diffused through a long lapse of the gliding water. She then remained apart, silently watching Hester and the clergyman; while they talked together and made such arrangements as were suggested by their new position and the purposes soon to be fulfilled. And now this fateful interview had come to a close. The dell was to be left in solitude among its dark, old trees, which, with their multitudinous tongues, would whisper long of what had ed there, and no mortal be the wiser. And the melancholy brook would add this other tale to the mystery with which its little heart was already overburdened, and whereof it still kept up a murmuring babble, with not a whit more cheerfulness of tone than for ages heretofore. |
|
|
|
LA NIA JUNTO AL ARROYUELO La nia dirigi las miradas al punto indicado, y all vio la letra escarlata, tan cerca de la orilla de la corriente, que el bordado de oro se reflejaba en el agua.
—Trela aqu,—dijo Ester.
—Ven t a buscarla,—respondi Perla.
—Habrase visto jams nia igual!—observ Ester aparte al ministro.—Oh! Te tengo que decir mucho acerca de ella. Pero a la verdad, en el asunto de este odioso smbolo, tiene razn. Debo sufrir este tormento todava algn tiempo, unos cuantos das ms, hasta que hayamos dejado esta regin y la miremos como un pas con que hemos soado. La selva no puede ocultarla. El ocano recibir la letra de mis manos, y la tragar para siempre!
Diciendo esto se adelant a la margen del arroyuelo, recogi la letra escarlata y la fij de nuevo en el pecho. Un momento antes, cuando Ester habl de arrojarla al seno del ocano, haba en ella un sentimiento de fundada esperanza; al recibir de nuevo este smbolo mortfero de la mano del destino, experiment la sensacin de una sentencia irrevocable que sobre ella pesaba. La haba arrojado al espacio infinito,—haba respirado una hora el aire de la libertad,—y de nuevo estaba aqu la letra escarlata con todo su suplicio, brillando en el lugar acostumbrado. De la misma manera una mala accin se reviste siempre del carcter de ineludible destino. Ester recogi inmediatamente las espesas trenzas de sus cabellos y las ocult bajo su gorra. Y como si hubiera un maleficio en la triste letra, desapareci su hermosura y todo lo que en ella haba de femenino, a manera de rayo de sol que se desvanece, y como si una sombra se hubiera extendido sobre todo su ser.
Efectuado el terrible cambio, extendi la mano a Perla.
—Conoces ahora a tu madre, nia?—le pregunt con acento de reproche, aunque en un tono moderado. Quieres atravesar el arroyo, y venir a donde est tu madre, ahora que se ha puesto de nuevo su ignominia,—ahora que est triste?
—S, ahora quiero,—respondi la nia atravesando el arroyuelo, y estrechando a su madre contra su pecho. Ahora eres realmente mi madre, y yo soy tu Perlita.
Y con una ternura que no era comn en ella, atrajo hacia s la cabeza de su madre y la bes en la frente y en las mejillas. Pero entonces,—por una especie de necesidad que siempre la impulsaba a mezclar en el contento que proporcionaba una parte de dolor,—Perla bes tambin la letra escarlata.
—Eso no es bueno,—dijo Ester,—cuando me has demostrado un poco de amor, te mofas de m.
—Por qu est sentado el ministro all?—pregunt Perla.
—Te est esperando para saludarte,—replic su madre.—Ve y pdele su bendicin. l te ama, Perlita ma, y tambin ama a tu madre. No lo amars t igualmente? Ve: l desea acariciarte.
—Nos ama realmente?—dijo Perla mirando a su madre con expresin de viva inteligencia.—Ir con nosotros, dndonos la mano, y entraremos los tres juntos en la poblacin?
—Ahora no, mi querida hija,—respondi Ester.—Pero dentro de algunos das iremos juntos de la mano, y tendremos un hogar y una casa nuestra, y te sentars sobre sus rodillas, y te ensear muchas cosas y te amar muy tiernamente. T tambin lo amars, no es verdad?
—Y conservar siempre la mano sobre el corazn?
—Qu pregunta es esa, locuela?—exclam la madre: ven y pdele su bendicin.
Pero sea que influyeran en ella los celos que parecen instintivos en todos los nios mimados, en presencia de un rival peligroso, o que fuese un capricho de su naturaleza singular, Perla no quiso dar muestras de afecto alguno a Arturo Dimmesdale. Solamente, y a la fuerza, la llev su madre hacia el ministro, y eso quedndose atrs y manifestando su mala gana con raros visajes, de los cuales, desde su ms tierna infancia, posea numerosa variedad, pudiendo transformar su mvil fisonoma de diversas maneras, y siempre con una expresin ms o menos perversa. El ministro,—penosamente desconcertado, pero con la esperanza de que un beso podra ser una especie de talismn que le ganara la buena voluntad de la nia,—se inclin hacia ella y la bes en la frente. Inmediatamente Perla logr desasirse de las manos de su madre, y corriendo hacia el arroyuelo, se detuvo en la orilla y se lav la frente en sus aguas, hasta que crey borrado completamente el beso recibido de mala gana. Despus permaneci a un lado contemplando en silencio a Ester y al ministro, mientras stos conversaban juntos y hacan los arreglos sugeridos por su nueva posicin y por los propsitos que pronto haban de realizar.
Y ahora esta fatdica entrevista qued terminada. Aquel lugar donde se encontraban, permanecera abandonado en su soledad entre los sombros y antiguos rboles de la selva que, con sus numerosas lenguas, susurraran largamente lo que all haba pasado, sin que ningn mortal fuera por eso ms cuerdo. Y el melanclico arroyuelo agregara esta nueva historia a los misteriosos cuentos que ya conoca, y continuara su antiguo murmullo, no por cierto ms alegre de lo que haba sido durante siglos y siglos. |
English version
Versin en espaol
