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!
但对海丝特·白兰来说,住在新英格兰这里,比起珠儿建立了家园的陌生的异乡,生活更加真实。这里有过她的罪孽,这里有过她的悲伤,这里也还会有她的忏悔。因此,她回来了,并且又戴上了使我们讲述了这篇如此阴暗故事的象征,此举完全出于她自己的自由意志,因为连那冷酷时代的最严厉的官员也不会强迫她了。从那以后,那红字就再也没离开过她的胸前。但是随着那构成海丝特生活的含辛茹苦、自我献身和对他人的体贴入微的岁月的流逝,那红字不再是引起世人嘲笑和毒骂的耻辱烙印,却变成了一种引人哀伤,令人望面生畏又起敬的标志。而由于海丝特·白兰毫无自私的目的,她的生活既非为自己谋私利又非贪图个人的欢愉,人们就把她视为饱经忧患的人,带着他们的所有的哀伤和困惑,来寻求她的忠告。尤其是妇女们,因为她们会不断经受感情的考验:受伤害、被滥用、遭委屈、被玩弄、入歧途、有罪过,或是因为不受重视和未被追求而无所寄托的心灵的忧郁的负担,而来到海丝特的茅屋,询问她们为什么这么凄苦,要如何才能得到解脱!海丝特则尽其所能安慰和指点她们。她还用她自己的坚定信仰使她们确信,到了更光明的时期,世界就会为此而成熟,也就是到了天国自己的时间,就会揭示一个新的真理,以便在双方幸福的更可靠的基础上建立起男女之间的全部关系。海丝特年轻时也曾虚妄地幻想过,她本人或许就是命定的女先知,但从那以后,她早已承认了:任何上界的神秘真理的使命是不可能委托给一个为罪孽所玷污、为耻辱所压倒或者甚至为终生的忧愁而沉闷的女人的。将来宣示真理的天使和圣徒必定是一个女性,但应是一个高尚、纯洁和美丽的女性;尤其应是一个其聪慧并非来自忧伤而是来自飘渺的喜悦的女性;而且还应是一个通过成功地到达这一目的的真实生活的考验显示出神圣的爱将如何使我们幸福的女性!

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:--
海丝特·白兰就一边这么说着,一边垂下双眸瞅着那红字。又经过许多许多年之后,在一座下陷的老坟附近,又挖了一座新坟,地点就是后来在一旁建起王家教堂的那块墓地。这座新坟靠近那座下陷的老坟,但中间留着一处空地,仿佛两位长眠者的骨殖无权相混。然而两座坟却共用一块墓碑。周围全是刻着家族纹章的碑石;而在这一方简陋的石板上——好奇的探索者仍会看见,却不明所以了——有着类似盾形纹章的刻痕。上面所刻的铭文,是一个专司宗谱纹章的官员的词句,可以充当我们现在结束的这个传说的箴言和简短描述;这传说实在阴惨,只有一点比阴影还要幽暗的永恒的光斑稍稍给人一点宽慰:

"On a field, sable, the letter A, gules."
“一片墨黑的土地,一个血红的A字。”