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! What is it that the minister seeks to hide;with his hand always over his heart? Ha; Hester Prynne!〃 〃What is it; good Mistress Hibbins?〃 eagerly asked little Pearl。〃Hast thou seen it?〃 〃No matter; darling!〃 responded Mistress Hibbins; making Pearl aprofound reverence。 〃Thou thyself wilt see it; one time or another。They say; child; thou art of the lineage of the Prince of the Air!Wilt thou ride with me; some fine night; to see thy father? Thenthou shalt know wherefore the minister keeps his hand over his heart!〃 Laughing so shrilly that all the market…place could hear her; theweird old gentlewoman took her departure。 By this time the preliminary prayer had been offered in themeeting…house; and the accents of the Reverend Mr。 Dimmesdale wereheard mencing his discourse。 An irresistible feeling kept Hesternear the spot。 As the sacred edifice was too much thronged to admitanother auditor; she took up her position close beside the scaffold ofthe pillory。 It was in sufficient proximity to bring the wholesermon to her ears; in the shape of an indistinct; but varied;murmur and flow of the minister's very peculiar voice。 The vocal organ was in itself a rich endowment; insomuch that alistener; prehending nothing of the language in which thepreacher spoke; might still have been swayed to and fro by the meretone and cadence。 Like all other music; it breathed passion andpathos; and emotions high or tender; in a tongue native to the humanheart; wherever educated。 Muffled as the sound was by its passagethrough the church walls; Hester Prynne listened with such intentness;and sympathised so intimately; that the sermon had throughout ameaning for her; entirely apart from its indistinguishable words。These; perhaps; if more distinctly heard; might have been only agrosser medium; and
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