not of the order that escapes from too intense suffering by a swoon, her spirit could only shelter itself
beneath a stony crust of insensibility, while the faculties of animal life remained entire. In this state, the
voice of the preacher thundered remorselessly, but unavailingly, upon her ears. The infant, during the
latter portion of her ordeal, pierced the air with its wailings and screams; she strove to hush it mechanically,
but seemed scarcely to sympathise with its trouble. With the same hard demeanour, she was led back
to prison, and vanished from the public gaze within its iron-clamped portal. It was whispered by those
who peered after her that the scarlet letter threw a lurid gleam along the dark passage-way of the interior.