Lonely as was Hester's situation, and without a friend on earth who dared to show himself, she, however, incurred no risk of want. She possessed an art that sufficed, even in a land that afforded comparatively little scope for its exercise, to supply food for her thriving infant and herself. It was the art- then, as now, almost the only one within a woman's grasp- of needlework. She bore on her breast, in the curiously embroidered letter, a specimen of her delicate and imaginative skill, of which the dames of a court might gladly have availed themselves, to add the richer and more spiritual adornment of human ingenuity to their fabrics of silk and gold. Here, indeed, in the sable simplicity that generally characterised the Puritanic modes of dress, there might be an infrequent call for the finer productions of her handiwork. Yet the taste of the age, demanding whatever was elaborate in compositions of this kind, did not fail to extend its influence over our stern progenitors, who had cast behind them so many fashions which it might seem harder to dispense with. Public ceremonies, such as ordinations, the installation of magistrates, and all that could give majesty to the forms in which a new government manifested itself to the people, were, as a matter of policy, marked by a stately and well-conducted ceremonial, and a sombre, but yet a studied magnificence. Deep ruffs, painfully wrought bands, and gorgeously embroidered gloves were all deemed necessary to the official state of men assuming the reins of power; and were readily allowed to individuals dignified by rank or wealth, even while sumptuary laws forbade these and similar extravagances to the plebeian order. In the array of funerals, too-whether for the apparel of the dead body, or to typify, by manifold emblematic-devices of sable cloth and snowy lawn, the sorrow of the survivors- there was a frequent and characteristic demand for such labour as Hester Prynne could supply. Baby-linen- for babies then wore robes of state- afforded still another possibility of toil and emolument.
盡管海絲特處境孤立，世上沒有一個朋友敢于露面，然而她倒不致缺衣少穿。她掌握了一門手藝，即使在那片沒有太大施展余地的地方，也還足以養(yǎng)活她自己和日見長大的嬰兒。這門手藝，無論在當(dāng)時抑或在現(xiàn)在，幾乎都是女性唯一可以一學(xué)便會的，那就是做針線活。她胸前佩戴的那個繡得十分絕妙的字母，就是她精致和富于想象力的技藝的一個樣品；那些宮廷貴婦們?yōu)榱嗽谧约旱膴A金絲織物上增加手工藝裝飾品的絢麗和靈性，恐怕也巴不得對此加以利用。誠然，在這里，請教徒們的服飾一般以深黑和簡樸為特色，她那些精美的針線活兒可能很少有人間津。不過，時尚總在日益增加對這類精美制品的需求，這也不會影響不到我們嚴(yán)肅的祖先們，他們也確曾拋棄過許許多多看來是難以廢除的風(fēng)氣。象授任圣職、官吏就任，以及一個新政府可以對人民顯示威僅的種種形式這樣一些公眾典禮，作為一種成規(guī)，執(zhí)行得莊嚴(yán)有序，顯示出一種陰沉而又做作的壯麗。高高的環(huán)狀皺領(lǐng)、核心編織的飾帶和刺繡華麗的手套，都被認(rèn)定是居官的人夸耀權(quán)勢的必需品；而且，盡管禁止奢侈的法律不準(zhǔn)平民等級效法這一類鋪張，但是地位高或財富多的人，隨時都可得到韶免。在喪葬活動中也是一樣，諸如死者的裝碴，或是遺屬志哀用的黑喪服和白麻布上種種象征性的圖案，都對海絲特·白蘭這樣的人能夠誕供的勞動有經(jīng)常和具體的需求。而嬰兒的服裝——當(dāng)時的嬰兒是穿袍服的——也為她提供了依靠勞動獲得收入的機(jī)會。

By degrees, nor very slowly, her handiwork became what would now be termed the fashion. Whether from commiseration for a woman of so miserable a destiny; or from the morbid curiosity that gives a fictitious value even to common or worthless things; or by whatever other intangible circumstance was then, as now, sufficient to bestow, on some persons, what others might seek in vain; or because Hester really filled a gap which must otherwise have remained vacant; it is certain that she had ready and fairly requited employment for as many hours as she saw fit to occupy with her needle. Vanity, it may be, chose to mortify itself, by putting on, for ceremonials of pomp and state, the garments that had been wrought by her sinful hands. Her needle-work was seen on the ruff of the Governor; military men wore it on their scarfs, and the minister on his hand; it decked the baby's little cap; it was shut up, to be mildewed and moulder away, in the coffins of the dead. But it is not recorded that, in a single instance, her skill was called in aid to embroider the white veil which was to cover the pure blushes of a bride. The exception indicated the ever relentless vigour with which society frowned upon her sin.
沒過多久，她的針線活就逐漸成為如今稱作時時髦的款式了?；蛟S是出于對這位如此命苦的女人的憐憫；或許是出于對平淡無奇的事情也要故弄玄虛的少見多怪；或許是出于某種難以解釋的原因——這在當(dāng)時和今天都是有的——某些人苦求不得的、別人卻可予取予奪、或許是因?yàn)楹＝z特確實(shí)填補(bǔ)了原先的一項(xiàng)空白；不管是什么原因吧，反正求她做針線的活路源源不斷，只要她樂意于多少鐘點(diǎn)，總有很不錯的收入。一些人可能是為了抑制自己的虛榮心，才在一些堂皇莊重的場合專門穿戴由她那雙有罪的手縫制的服裝。于是，她的針線活便出現(xiàn)在總督的皺領(lǐng)上、軍人的綬帶上、牧師的領(lǐng)結(jié)上；裝飾在嬰兒的小帽上，還給封閉在死人的棺木中霉?fàn)€掉。但是從來沒人求她為新娘刺繡遮蓋她們純潔的額顏的白色面紗，這是記載中絕對沒有的。這一絕無僅有的例外說明，社會對她的罪孽始終是深惡痛絕的。

Hester sought not to acquire anything beyond a subsistence, of the plainest and most ascetic description, for herself, and a simple abundance for her child. Her own dress was of the coarsest materials and the most sombre hue; with only that one ornament- the scarlet letter- which it was her doom to wear. The child's attire, on the other hand, was distinguished by a fanciful, or, we might rather say, a fantastic ingenuity, which served, indeed, to heighten the airy charm that early began to develop itself in the little girl, but which appeared to have also a deeper meaning. We may speak further of it hereafter.
海絲特除去維持生計之外一無所求；她自己過著極其艱苦樸素的生活，對孩子的衣食則稍有寬容。她自己的衣裙用的是最祖糙的料子和最晦暗的顏色，上面只有一件飾物，就是那紅字——那是她注定非戴不可的。反之，那孩子的服飾卻顯得別出心裁，給人一種充滿幻想、勿寧說是奇思異想的印象，確實(shí)增加了那小姑娘早早就開始顯露出來的活潑動人之美，不過，做母親的給她這樣打扮，似乎還有更深的含義。這一點(diǎn)我們以后再說。