The Scarlet Letter

You will love her fondly,” repeated Hester Prynne, as she and the minister sat watching little Pearl. “Isn’t she beautiful? And look how she has adorned herself with such simple flowers! If she had gathered pearls, diamonds, and rubies instead, they could not have suited her better! She is a wonderful child! But I know whose forehead she has!”

“Do you know, Hester,” said Arthur Dimmesdale, with an uneasy smile, “that this dear child, who is always at your side, has often alarmed me? I thought—oh, Hester, it is awful to dread such a thought!—that I could see my own features in her face, so clearly that the whole world would see them! But she is mostly yours!”