cherish a holy gratitude towards Mr. Dimmesdale throughout
the long hereafter. But, as he came down the pulpit-steps, the gray-bearded
sexton met him, holding up a black glove, which the minister recognized as his
own.
    »It was found,« said the sexton, »this morning, on the scaffold, where
evil-doers are set up to public shame. Satan dropped it there, I take it,
intending a scurrilous jest against your reverence. But, indeed, he was blind
and foolish, as he ever and always is. A pure hand needs no glove to cover it!«
    »Thank you, my good friend,« said the minister gravely, but startled at
heart; for, so confused was his remembrance, that he had almost brought himself
to look at the events of the past night as visionary. »Yes, it seems to be my
glove indeed!«
    »And, since Satan saw fit to steal it, your reverence must needs handle him
without gloves, henceforward,« remarked the old sexton, grimly smiling. »But did
your reverence hear of the portent that was seen last night? A great red letter
in the sky, - the letter A, - which we interpret to stand for Angel. For, as our
good Governor Winthrop was made an angel this past night, it was doubtless held
fit that there should be some notice thereof!«
    »No« answered the minister. »I had not heard of it.«
 

                          XIII. Another View of Hester

In her late singular interview with Mr. Dimmesdale, Hester Prynne was shocked at
the condition to which she found the clergyman reduced. His nerve seemed
absolutely destroyed. His moral force was abased into more than childish
weakness. It grovelled helpless on the ground, even while his intellectual
faculties retained their pristine strength, or had perhaps acquired a morbid
energy, which disease only could have given them. With her knowledge of a train
of circumstances hidden from all others, she could readily infer, that, besides
the legitimate action of his own conscience, a terrible machinery had been
brought to bear, and was still operating, on Mr. Dimmesdale's well-being and
repose. Knowing what this poor, fallen man had once been, her whole soul was
moved by the shuddering terror with which he had appealed to her, - the outcast
woman, - for support against his instinctively discovered enemy. She decided,
moreover, that he had a right to her utmost aid. Little accustomed, in her long
seclusion from society, to measure her ideas of right and