"No!- no!- he has but increased the debt!" answered the physician; and as he proceeded, his manner lost its fiercer characteristics, and subsided into gloom. "Dost thou remember me, Hester, as I was nine years agone? Even then, I was in the autumn of my days, nor was it the early autumn. But all my life had been made up of earnest, studious, thoughtful, quiet years, bestowed faithfully for the increase of mine own knowledge, and faithfully, too, though this latter object was but casual to the other- faithfully for the advancement of human welfare. No life had been more peaceful and innocent than mine; few lives so rich with benefits conferred. Dost thou remember me? Was I not, though you might deem me cold, nevertheless a man thoughtful for others, craving little for himself- kind, true, just, and of constant, if not warm affections? Was I not all this?"
“没有！——没有！他只不过增加了他的负债！”那医生回答说；在他接下去说着的时候，他的神情不再是恶狠狠的，而变得阴郁了。“你还记得我九年前的样子吗，海丝特？即使在那时；我也到了垂暮之秋，而且还不是初秋。但我的全部生活都是由真诚、勤学、沉思和宁静的岁月所构成的，我忠实地将其奉献给为自己增加知识，也同样忠实地将其奉献给为人类造福——虽说这后一个目标与前一个相比只是附带的。谁也比不上我生活得那样平和，那样纯真；很少有人象我那样生活得富于裨益。你还记得那时的我吗？虽说你可能认为我冷酷无情，难道我不是为他人着想，很少替自己打算吗？——就算我不是温情脉脉，难道我不是善良、真诚、正直，对爱情始终不渝的人吗？过去的我难道不就是这样子吗？”

"All this, and more," said Hester.
“是这样子的，而且还不只这些，”海丝特说。

"And what am I now?" demanded he, looking into her face, and permitting the whole evil within him to be written on his features. "I have already told thee what I am! A fiend! Who made me so?"
“可我现在成了什么样子呢？”他紧盯着她的面孔，逼问着，同时让他内心的全部邪恶都无保留地表露在他的外貌上。“我已经告诉过你我是什么了！一个恶魔！是谁把我弄成这样子的？”

"It was myself!" cried Hester, shuddering. "It was I, not less than he. Why hast thou not avenged thyself on me?"
“就是我！”海丝特周身战抖着说。“是我！我的责任并不比他小。可你为什么不对我报复呢？”

"I have left thee to the scarlet letter," replied Roger Chillingworth. "If that have not avenged me, I can do no more!"
“我把你留给了红宇，”罗杰·齐灵渥斯回答说。“如果红字还不能为我出气，我也别无它法了！”

He laid his finger on it, with a smile.
他面带微笑，把一个指头放在红字上面。

"It has avenged thee!" answered Hester Prynne.
“它已经替你报复了！”海丝特·白兰说。

"I judged no less," said the physician. "And now, what wouldst thou with me touching this man?"
“我正是这么看的，”那医生说。“那么，如今你要我对那个人怎么办呢？”