But there was a more real life for Hester Prynne, here, in New England, that in that unknown region where Pearl had found a home. Here had been her sin; here, her sorrow; and here was yet to be her penitence. She had returned, therefore, and resumed,--of her own free will, for not the sternest magistrate of that iron period would have imposed it,--resumed the symbol of which we have related so dark a tale. Never afterwards did it quit her bosom. But, in the lapse of the toilsome, thoughtful, and self-devoted years that made up Hester's life, the scarlet letter ceased to be a stigma which attracted the world's scorn and bitterness, and became a type of something to be sorrowed over, and looked upon with awe, yet with reverence too. And, as Hester Prynne had no selfish ends, nor lived in any measure for her own profit and enjoyment, people brought all their sorrows and perplexities, and besought her counsel, as one who had herself gone through a mighty trouble. Women, more especially,--in the continually recurring trials of wounded, wasted, wronged, misplaced, or erring and sinful passion,--or with the dreary burden of a heart unyielded, because unvalued and unsought,--came to Hester's cottage, demanding why they were so wretched, and what the remedy! Hester comforted and counselled them, as best she might. She assured them, too, of her firm belief, that, at some brighter period, when the world should have grown ripe for it, in Heaven's own time, a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness. Earlier in life, Hester had vainly imagined that she herself might be the destined prophetess, but had long since recognized the impossibility that any mission of divine and mysterious truth should be confided to a woman stained with sin, bowed down with shame, or even burdened with a life-long sorrow. The angel and apostle of the coming revelation must be a woman, indeed, but lofty, pure, and beautiful; and wise, moreover, not through dusky grief, but the ethereal medium of joy; and showing how sacred love should make us happy, by the truest test of a life successful to such an end!
但對海絲特·白蘭來說，住在新英格蘭這里，比起珠兒建立了家園的陌生的異鄉(xiāng)，生活更加真實。這里有過她的罪孽，這里有過她的悲傷，這里也還會有她的懺悔。因此，她回來了，并且又戴上了使我們講述了這篇如此陰暗故事的象征，此舉完全出于她自己的自由意志，因為連那冷酷時代的最嚴厲的官員也不會強迫她了。從那以后，那紅字就再也沒離開過她的胸前。但是隨著那構成海絲特生活的含辛茹苦、自我獻身和對他人的體貼入微的歲月的流逝，那紅字不再是引起世人嘲笑和毒罵的恥辱烙印，卻變成了一種引人哀傷，令人望面生畏又起敬的標志。而由于海絲特·白蘭毫無自私的目的，她的生活既非為自己謀私利又非貪圖個人的歡愉，人們就把她視為飽經(jīng)憂患的人，帶著他們的所有的哀傷和困惑，來尋求她的忠告。尤其是婦女們，因為她們會不斷經(jīng)受感情的考驗：受傷害、被濫用、遭委屈、被玩弄、入歧途、有罪過，或是因為不受重視和未被追求而無所寄托的心靈的憂郁的負擔，而來到海絲特的茅屋，詢問她們?yōu)槭裁催@么凄苦，要如何才能得到解脫！海絲特則盡其所能安慰和指點她們。她還用她自己的堅定信仰使她們確信，到了更光明的時期，世界就會為此而成熟，也就是到了天國自己的時間，就會揭示一個新的真理，以便在雙方幸福的更可靠的基礎上建立起男女之間的全部關系。海絲特年輕時也曾虛妄地幻想過，她本人或許就是命定的女先知，但從那以后，她早已承認了：任何上界的神秘真理的使命是不可能委托給一個為罪孽所玷污、為恥辱所壓倒或者甚至為終生的憂愁而沉悶的女人的。將來宣示真理的天使和圣徒必定是一個女性，但應是一個高尚、純潔和美麗的女性；尤其應是一個其聰慧并非來自憂傷而是來自飄渺的喜悅的女性；而且還應是一個通過成功地到達這一目的的真實生活的考驗顯示出神圣的愛將如何使我們幸福的女性！

So said Hester Prynne, and glanced her sad eyes downward at the scarlet letter. And, after many, many years, a new grave was delved, near an old and sunken one, in that burial-ground beside which King's Chapel has since been built. It was near that old and sunken grave, yet with a space between, as if the dust of the two sleepers had no right to mingle. Yet one tombstone served for both. All around, there were monuments carved with armorial bearings; and on this simple slab of slate--as the curious investigator may still discern, and perplex himself with the purport--there appeared the semblance of an engraved escutcheon. It bore a device, a herald's wording of which might serve for a motto and brief description of our now concluded legend; so sombre is it, and relieved only by one ever-glowing point of light gloomier than the shadow:--
海絲特·白蘭就一邊這么說著，一邊垂下雙眸瞅著那紅字。又經(jīng)過許多許多年之后，在一座下陷的老墳附近，又挖了一座新墳，地點就是后來在一旁建起王家教堂的那塊墓地。這座新墳靠近那座下陷的老墳，但中間留著一處空地，仿佛兩位長眠者的骨殖無權相混。然而兩座墳卻共用一塊墓碑。周圍全是刻著家族紋章的碑石；而在這一方簡陋的石板上——好奇的探索者仍會看見，卻不明所以了——有著類似盾形紋章的刻痕。上面所刻的銘文，是一個專司宗譜紋章的官員的詞句，可以充當我們現(xiàn)在結束的這個傳說的箴言和簡短描述；這傳說實在陰慘，只有一點比陰影還要幽暗的永恒的光斑稍稍給人一點寬慰：

"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules."
“一片墨黑的土地，一個血紅的A字?！?/div>