 thought and study, to meet upon; they discussed every
topic of ethics and religion, of public affairs, and private character; they
talked much, on both sides, of matters that seemed personal to themselves; and
yet no secret, such as the physician fancied must exist there, ever stole out of
the minister's consciousness into his companion's ear. The latter had his
suspicions, indeed, that even the nature of Mr. Dimmesdale's bodily disease had
never fairly been revealed to him. It was a strange reserve!
    After a time, at a hint from Roger Chillingworth, the friends of Mr.
Dimmesdale effected an arrangement by which the two were lodged in the same
house; so that every ebb and flow of the minister's life-tide might pass under
the eye of his anxious and attached physician. There was much joy throughout the
town, when this greatly desirable object was attained. It was held to be the
best possible measure for the young clergyman's welfare; unless, indeed, as
often urged by such as felt authorized to do so, he had selected some one of the
many blooming damsels, spiritually devoted to him, to become his devoted wife.
This latter step, however, there was no present prospect that Arthur Dimmesdale
would be prevailed upon to take; he rejected all suggestions of the kind, as if
priestly celibacy were one of his articles of church-discipline. Doomed by his
own choice, therefore, as Mr. Dimmesdale so evidently was, to eat his unsavory
morsel always at another's board, and endure the life-long chill which must be
his lot who seeks to warm himself only at another's fireside, it truly seemed
that this sagacious, experienced, benevolent, old physician, with his concord of
paternal and reverential love for the young pastor, was the very man, of all
mankind, to be constantly within reach of his voice.
    The new abode of the two friends was with a pious widow, of good social
rank, who dwelt in a house covering pretty nearly the site on which the
venerable structure of King's Chapel has since been built. It had the
grave-yard, originally Isaac Johnson's home-field, on one side, and so was well
adapted to call up serious reflections, suited to their respective employments,
in both minister and man of physic. The motherly care of the good widow assigned
to Mr. Dimmesdale a front apartment, with a sunny exposure, and heavy
window-curtains to create a noontide shadow, when desirable. The walls were hung
