Lonely as was Hester's situation, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred no risk of want. She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself. It was the art- then, as now, almost the only one within a woman's grasp- of needlework. She bore on her breast, in the curiously embroidered letter, a specimen of her delicate and imaginative skill, of which the dames of a court might gladly have availed themselves, to add the richer and more spiritual adornment of human ingenuity to their fabrics of silk and gold. Here, indeed, in the sable simplicity that generally characterised the Puritanic modes of dress, there might be an infrequent call for the finer productions of her handiwork. Yet the taste of the age, demanding whatever was elaborate in compositions of this kind, did not fail to extend its influence over our stern progenitors, who had cast behind them so many fashions which it might seem harder to dispense with. Public ceremonies, such as ordinations, the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself to the people, were, as a matter of policy, marked by a stately and well-conducted ceremonial, and a sombre, but yet a studied magnificence. Deep ruffs, painfully wrought bands, and gorgeously embroidered gloves were all deemed necessary to the official state of men assuming the reins of power; and were readily allowed to individuals dignified by rank or wealth, even while sumptuary laws forbade these and similar extravagances to the plebeian order. In the array of funerals, too-whether for the apparel of the dead body, or to typify, by manifold emblematic-devices of sable cloth and snowy lawn, the sorrow of the survivors- there was a frequent and characteristic demand for such labour as Hester Prynne could supply. Baby-linen- for babies then wore robes of state- afforded still another possibility of toil and emolument.
尽管海丝特处境孤立,世上没有一个朋友敢于露面,然而她倒不致缺衣少穿。她掌握了一门手艺,即使在那片没有太大施展余地的地方,也还足以养活她自己和日见长大的婴儿。这门手艺,无论在当时抑或在现在,几乎都是女性唯一可以一学便会的,那就是做针线活。她胸前佩戴的那个绣得十分绝妙的字母,就是她精致和富于想象力的技艺的一个样品;那些宫廷贵妇们为了在自己的夹金丝织物上增加手工艺装饰品的绚丽和灵性,恐怕也巴不得对此加以利用。诚然,在这里,请教徒们的服饰一般以深黑和简朴为特色,她那些精美的针线活儿可能很少有人间津。不过,时尚总在日益增加对这类精美制品的需求,这也不会影响不到我们严肃的祖先们,他们也确曾抛弃过许许多多看来是难以废除的风气。象授任圣职、官吏就任,以及一个新政府可以对人民显示威仅的种种形式这样一些公众典礼,作为一种成规,执行得庄严有序,显示出一种阴沉而又做作的壮丽。高高的环状皱领、核心编织的饰带和刺绣华丽的手套,都被认定是居官的人夸耀权势的必需品;而且,尽管禁止奢侈的法律不准平民等级效法这一类铺张,但是地位高或财富多的人,随时都可得到韶免。在丧葬活动中也是一样,诸如死者的装碴,或是遗属志哀用的黑丧服和白麻布上种种象征性的图案,都对海丝特·白兰这样的人能够诞供的劳动有经常和具体的需求。而婴儿的服装——当时的婴儿是穿袍服的——也为她提供了依靠劳动获得收入的机会。

By degrees, nor very slowly, her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion. Whether from commiseration for a woman of so miserable a destiny; or from the morbid curiosity that gives a fictitious value even to common or worthless things; or by whatever other intangible circumstance was then, as now, sufficient to bestow, on some persons, what others might seek in vain; or because Hester really filled a gap which must otherwise have remained vacant; it is certain that she had ready and fairly requited employment for as many hours as she saw fit to occupy with her needle. Vanity, it may be, chose to mortify itself, by putting on, for ceremonials of pomp and state, the garments that had been wrought by her sinful hands. Her needle-work was seen on the ruff of the Governor; military men wore it on their scarfs, and the minister on his hand; it decked the baby's little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and moulder away, in the coffins of the dead. But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigour with which society frowned upon her sin.
没过多久,她的针线活就逐渐成为如今称作时时髦的款式了。或许是出于对这位如此命苦的女人的怜悯;或许是出于对平淡无奇的事情也要故弄玄虚的少见多怪;或许是出于某种难以解释的原因——这在当时和今天都是有的——某些人苦求不得的、别人却可予取予夺、或许是因为海丝特确实填补了原先的一项空白;不管是什么原因吧,反正求她做针线的活路源源不断,只要她乐意于多少钟点,总有很不错的收入。一些人可能是为了抑制自己的虚荣心,才在一些堂皇庄重的场合专门穿戴由她那双有罪的手缝制的服装。于是,她的针线活便出现在总督的皱领上、军人的绶带上、牧师的领结上;装饰在婴儿的小帽上,还给封闭在死人的棺木中霉烂掉。但是从来没人求她为新娘刺绣遮盖她们纯洁的额颜的白色面纱,这是记载中绝对没有的。这一绝无仅有的例外说明,社会对她的罪孽始终是深恶痛绝的。

Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child. Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament- the scarlet letter- which it was her doom to wear. The child's attire, on the other hand, was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which served, indeed, to heighten the airy charm that early began to develop itself in the little girl, but which appeared to have also a deeper meaning. We may speak further of it hereafter.
海丝特除去维持生计之外一无所求;她自己过着极其艰苦朴素的生活,对孩子的衣食则稍有宽容。她自己的衣裙用的是最祖糙的料子和最晦暗的颜色,上面只有一件饰物,就是那红字——那是她注定非戴不可的。反之,那孩子的服饰却显得别出心裁,给人一种充满幻想、勿宁说是奇思异想的印象,确实增加了那小姑娘早早就开始显露出来的活泼动人之美,不过,做母亲的给她这样打扮,似乎还有更深的含义。这一点我们以后再说。