"Peace, Hester--peace!" replied the old man, with gloomy
sternness--"it is not granted me to pardon. I have no such power
as thou tellest me of. My old faith, long forgotten, comes back
to me, and explains all that we do, and all we suffer. By thy
first step awry, thou didst plant the germ of evil; but since
that moment it has all been a dark necessity. Ye that have
wronged me are not sinful, save in a kind of typical illusion;
neither am I fiend-like, who have snatched a fiend's office from
his hands. It is our fate. Let the black flower blossom as it
may! Now, go thy ways, and deal as thou wilt with yonder man."
He waved his hand, and betook himself again to his employment of
gathering herbs.