THE GOVERNOR'S HALL

So the mother and little Pearl were admitted into the hall of entrance. With many variations, suggested by the nature of his building materials, diversity of climate, and a different mode of social life, Governor Bellingham had planned his new habitation after the residences of gentlemen of fair estate in his native land. Here, then, was a wide and reasonably lofty hall, extending through the whole depth of the house, and forming a medium of general communication, more or less directly, with all the other apartments. At one extremity, this spacious room was lighted by the windows of the two towers, which formed a small recess on either side of the portal. At the other end, though partly muffled by a curtain, it was more powerfully illuminated by one of those embowed hall windows which we read of in old books, and which was provided with a deep and cushioned seat. Here, on the cushion, lay a folio tome, probably of the Chronicles of England, or other such substantial literature; even as, in our own days, we scatter gilded volumes on the centre table, to be turned over by the casual guest. The furniture of the hall consisted of some ponderous chairs, the backs of which were elaborately carved with wreaths of oaken flowers; and likewise a table in the same taste, the whole being of the Elizabethan age, or perhaps earlier, and heirlooms, transferred hither from the Governor's paternal home. On the table—in token that the sentiment of old English hospitality had not been left behind—stood a large pewter tankard, at the bottom of which, had Hester or Pearl peeped into it, they might have seen the frothy remnant of a recent draught of ale.
On the wall hung a row of portraits, representing the forefathers of the Bellingham lineage, some with armour on their breasts, and others with stately ruffs and robes of peace. All were characterised by the sternness and severity which old portraits so invariably put on, as if they were the ghosts, rather than the pictures, of departed worthies, and were gazing with harsh and intolerant criticism at the pursuits and enjoyments of living men.
At about the centre of the oaken panels that lined the hall was suspended a suit of mail, not, like the pictures, an ancestral relic, but of the most modern date; for it had been manufactured by a skilful armourer in London, the same year in which Governor Bellingham came over to New England. There was a steel head-piece, a cuirass, a gorget and greaves, with a pair of gauntlets and a sword hanging beneath; all, and especially the helmet and breastplate, so highly burnished as to glow with white radiance, and scatter an illumination everywhere about upon the floor. This bright panoply was not meant for mere idle show, but had been worn by the Governor on many a solemn muster and training field, and had glittered, moreover, at the head of a regiment in the Pequod war. For, though bred a lawyer, and accustomed to speak of Bacon, Coke, Noye, and Finch, as his professional associates, the exigencies of this new country had transformed Governor Bellingham into a soldier, as well as a statesman and ruler.
Little Pearl, who was as greatly pleased with the gleaming armour as she had been with the glittering frontispiece of the house, spent some time looking into the polished mirror of the breastplate.
"Mother," cried she, "I see you here. Look! Look!"
Hester looked by way of humouring the child; and she saw that, owing to the peculiar effect of this convex mirror, the scarlet letter was represented in exaggerated and gigantic proportions, so as to be greatly the most prominent feature of her appearance. In truth, she seemed absolutely hidden behind it. Pearl pointed upwards also, at a similar picture in the head-piece; smiling at her mother, with the elfish intelligence that was so familiar an expression on her small physiognomy. That look of naughty merriment was likewise reflected in the mirror, with so much breadth and intensity of effect, that it made Hester Prynne feel as if it could not be the image of her own child, but of an imp who was seeking to mould itself into Pearl's shape.
"Come along, Pearl," said she, drawing her away, "Come and look into this fair garden. It may be we shall see flowers there; more beautiful ones than we find in the woods."
Pearl accordingly ran to the bow-window, at the further end of the hall, and looked along the vista of a garden walk, carpeted with closely-shaven grass, and bordered with some rude and immature attempt at shrubbery. But the proprietor appeared already to have relinquished as hopeless, the effort to perpetuate on this side of the Atlantic, in a hard soil, and amid the close struggle for subsistence, the native English taste for ornamental gardening. Cabbages grew in plain sight; and a pumpkin-vine, rooted at some distance, had run across the intervening space, and deposited one of its gigantic products directly beneath the hall window, as if to warn the Governor that this great lump of vegetable gold was as rich an ornament as New England earth would offer him. There were a few rose-bushes, however, and a number of apple-trees, probably the descendants of those planted by the Reverend Mr. Blackstone, the first settler of the peninsula; that half mythological personage who rides through our early annals, seated on the back of a bull.
Pearl, seeing the rose-bushes, began to cry for a red rose, and would not be pacified.
"Hush, child—hush!" said her mother, earnestly. "Do not cry, dear little Pearl! I hear voices in the garden. The Governor is coming, and gentlemen along with him."
In fact, adown the vista of the garden avenue, a number of persons were seen approaching towards the house. Pearl, in utter scorn of her mother's attempt to quiet her, gave an eldritch scream, and then became silent, not from any notion of obedience, but because the quick and mobile curiosity of her disposition was excited by the appearance of those new personages.

LA SALA DEL GOBERNADOR

Madre e hija fueron, pues, admitidas en el vestíbulo. El Gobernador, teniendo en cuenta la naturaleza de los materiales de construcción disponibles, así como la diferencia del clima y costumbres sociales de la colonia, había trazado el plano de su nueva morada a imitación de las de los caballeros de moderados recursos en su país natal. Había por lo tanto un ancho y elevado vestíbulo que se extendía hasta el fondo de la casa y servía de medio de comunicación más o menos directa con todas las otras piezas.

En una extremidad se hallaba alumbrada esta espaciosa habitación por las ventanas de las dos torres; y en la otra, aunque protegida por una cortina, lo estaba por una gran ventana abovedada, provista de un asiento de almohadones, en el que había un volumen en folio, probablemente de las Crónicas de Inglaterra u otra literatura por el estilo.

El mueblaje consistía en algunas sillas macizas, en cuyos respaldares había esculpidas guirnaldas de flores de roble; en el centro había una mesa del mismo estilo que las sillas, todo del tiempo de la Reina Isabel de Inglaterra, o quizás anterior a él, y traído de la casa paterna del Gobernador. Y en la mesa, como prueba de que la antigua hospitalidad no había muerto, un gran jarro de peltre en el fondo del cual el curioso podría haber visto la espuma de la cerveza bebida recientemente.
Colgaba en la pared una hilera de retratos que representaban los antepasados del linaje de Bellingham, algunos vestidos con petos y armaduras y otros con cuellos alechugados y ropa talar. Como rasgo característico, tenían todos aquella severidad y rigidez que invariablemente hay en los antiguos retratos, como si en vez de pinturas fueran los espíritus de hombres ilustres, ya muertos, que estuvieran contemplando con dureza é intolerancia, criticándolos, las acciones y placeres de los vivos.

Hacia el centro de los tableros de roble que cubrían las paredes del vestíbulo había suspendida una cota de malla y sus accesorios, no una reliquia hereditaria, como los retratos, sino de fecha más moderna, fabricada por un hábil armero de Londres el año mismo en que el Gobernador Bellingham vino a la Nueva Inglaterra. Allí había un yelmo, una coraza y una gola, con un par de manoplas, y colgando debajo una espada; todo, y especialmente el yelmo y la coraza, tan perfectamente bruñido, que resplandecían con un blanco radiante, iluminando el pavimento. Esta brillante panoplia no servía de simple ornato, sino que el Gobernador se la había endosado más de una vez, especialmente a la cabeza de un regimiento en la guerra contra los indios, pues aunque por estudios y profesión era un abogado, las exigencias del nuevo país habían hecho de él un soldado y un Gobernante.

Perlita,—á quien agradó la resplandeciente armadura tanto como el brillante frontispicio de la casa, se entretuvo algún tiempo mirando la pulida superficie de la coraza que resplandecía como si fuera un espejo.
—¡Madre! gritó, madre, te veo aquí. ¡Mira! ¡mira!
Ester, por complacer a su hijita, dio una mirada a la coraza, y vió que, debido al efecto peculiar de este espejo convexo, la letra escarlata parecía reproducida en proporciones exageradas y gigantescas, de tal modo que venía a ser lo más prominente de toda su persona. En realidad, parecía como si Ester se ocultara detrás de la letra. Perla le llamó también la atención a otra figura semejante en el yelmo, sonriendo a su madre con aquella especie de expresión de duendecillo tan común a su inteligente rostro.

Esta mirada de traviesa alegría se reflejó igualmente en el espejo, con tales proporciones y tal intensidad de efecto, que Ester no creyó que pudiera ser la imagen de su propia hija, sino la de algún trasgo o duende que trataba de amoldarse a la forma de Perla.

—Vamos, Perla, dijo la madre llevándosela consigo. Ven a ver este hermoso jardín. Quizás haya en él flores más hermosas que las de los bosques.

Perla se dirigió a la ventana abovedada en el fondo del vestíbulo, y tendió la mirada a lo largo de las calles del jardín, alfombrado de hierba recién cortada, y guarnecido con algunos arbustos, no muchos, como si el dueño hubiera desistido de su idea de perpetuar en este lado del Atlántico el gusto inglés en materia de jardines.

Las coles crecían a la simple vista, y una calabacera, plantada a alguna distancia, se había extendido al través del espacio intermediario, depositando uno de sus gigantescos productos directamente debajo de la ventana indicada. Había, sin embargo, unos cuantos rosales, y cierto número de manzanos, procedentes probablemente de los plantados por los primeros colonos.

Perla, al ver los rosales, empezó a clamar por una rosa encarnada, y no quiso estarse tranquila.

—Cállate, niña, cállate, dijo la madre encarecidamente. No llores, mi querida Perla. Oigo voces en el jardín. El Gobernador se acerca acompañado de varios caballeros. Cállate.