The Scarlet Stigma: A Drama in Four Acts

_Butts._ _The Margery D. was a trim little ship, The men they could man, and the skipper could skip; She sailed from her haven one fine summer day, And she foundered at sea in t...

_Dimsdell._ 'Twould do no good.--The Governor is late, Or I have missed him.--Confess?--Disgrace for me; No help to her; and all the blasphemies That evil minds could cast on sa...

_Wilson._ Wise Governor, and you, My brethren: dried as I am with age, The tendrils of my heart are pliable; Nor have the tangles of this thicket-world So twisted all my grain a...

comfortable and handsome. Windows draped in scarlet-fringed curtains with scarlet cross-cords, simulating the letter "A." Rich needle work in the hangings and other accessories....

_Ward._ But know the goodness of it! He was her constant friend up to the time Her wantonness declared itself, and then He left her lonely, as though that punishment Were all a...

_Dimsdell._ O, she is beautiful! The memory of her loveliness Pervades my waking dreams, and, pleasant theft, Deprives my sleep of dark oblivion. And thus, while fleeing from th...

_Roger._ The fox that robbed my roost is sly; he keeps The cover warily; and, now the scent Is cold, the curs that yelp in scandal's pack Bay loud on many faults, but cannot tra...

_Diggory._ If there be no true charm but it hath a touch of folly in it, this one must be most potent. Now a wise man would not think there's that virtue in a bit of grease, a j...

_Roger._ To kill were easy; aye, but--to stretch his life As on a rack--were that not better still? Dead, I'd bury with him my revenge; But while he lives the old account will s...

_Roger._ [_Feeling Dimsdell's pulse_] There's been no change. A very long trance. At times he mumbles; at other times, as now, He lies like death. If ev'ry murderer Were stricke...

_Dimsdell._ And now, good friends, Electors and Elected, Although my speech hath run a lengthened course, And what I purposed hath been said in full, There's more comes to me no...