Gazing at Pearl, Hester Prynne often dropped her work upon her knees, and cried out with an agony which she would fain have hidden, but which made utterance for itself, betwixt speech and a groan, "O Father in heaven- if Thou art still my Father- what is this being which I have brought into the world!" And Pearl, overbearing the ejaculation, or aware, through some more subtile channel, of those throbs of anguish, would turn her vivid and beautiful little face upon her mother, smile with sprite-like intelligence, and resume her play.
海絲特·白蘭眼望著珠兒，常常把手里的活計放到膝上，由于強忍不下的痛苦而哭出聲來，那淚淚涌出的聲音，半似說話，半似鳴咽：“噢，天上的圣父啊——如果您還是我的圣父的話——我?guī)У竭@人世上來的是一個什么樣的生命??！”珠兒呢，在一旁聽到了這迸射而出的語言，或是通過某種更微妙的渠道感受到了那痛苦的悸動，便會把她那美麗動人的小臉轉向她母親，露著精靈般聰慧的笑容，然后繼續(xù)玩起她的游戲。

One peculiarity of the child's deportment remains yet to be told. The very first thing which she had noticed, in her life, was- what?- not the mother's smile, responding to it, as other babies do, by that faint, embryo smile of the little mouth, remembered so doubtfully afterwards, and with such fond discussion whether it were indeed a smile. By no means! But that first object of which Pearl seemed to become aware was- shall we say it?- the scarlet letter on Hester's bosom! One day, as her mother stooped over the cradle, the infant's eyes had been caught by the glimmering of the gold embroidery about the letter; and, putting up her little hand, she grasped at it, smiling, not doubtfully, but with a decided gleam, that gave her face the look of a much older child. Then, gasping for breath, did Hester Prynne clutch the fatal token, instinctively endeavouring to tear it away; so infinite was the torture inflicted by the intelligent touch of Pearl's baby hand. Again, as if her mother's agonised gesture were meant only to make sport for her, did little Pearl look into her eyes, and smile! From that epoch, except when the child was asleep, Hester had never felt a moment's safety; not a moment's calm enjoyment of her. Weeks, it is true, would sometimes elapse, during which Pearl's gaze might never once be fixed upon the scarlet letter; but then, again, it would come at unawares, like the stroke of sudden death, and always with that peculiar smile, and odd expression of the eyes.
這孩子的舉止上還有一個特點也要說一說。她降生以來所注意到的頭一件事情是——什么呢？不是母親的微笑——別的孩子會學著用自己的小嘴淺淺一笑來呼應，事后會記憶模糊，以致熱烈地爭論那到底是不是真的在笑。珠兒意識到的第一個目標絕不是母親的微笑！似乎是——我們要不要說出來呢？是海絲特胸前的紅字！一天，當她母親腦身在搖籃上的時候，嬰兒的眼睛被那字母四周繡著的金錢的閃光吸引住了；接著便伸出小手朝那字母抓去，臉上還帶著確定無疑的笑容，閃出果斷的光彩，使她的表情象個大得多的孩子。當時，海絲特·白蘭喘著粗氣，緊緊抓住那致命的標記，本能地試圖把它扯下來；珠兒那小手這莫測的一觸，紛她帶來了多么無窮無盡的熬煎啊。此時，小珠幾以為她母親那痛苦的動作只不過是在和她逗著玩，便盯著母親的眼睛，微微一笑。從那時起，除非這孩子在睡覺，海絲特沒有過片刻的安全感，也沒有過片刻的寧靜和由孩子帶來的歡樂。確實，有時一連幾個星期過去了，其間珠兒再沒有注視過一次紅字；之后，又會冷不丁地象瘁死地一抖似的看上一眼，而且臉上總要露出那特有的微笑，眼睛也總要帶著那古怪的表情。

Once, this freakish, elvish cast came into the child's eyes, while Hester was looking at her own image in them, as mothers are fond of doing; and, suddenly- for women in solitude, and with troubled hearts, are pestered with unaccountable delusions- she fancied that she beheld, not her own miniature portrait, but another face, in the small black mirror of Pearl's eye. It was a face fiend-like, full of smiling malice, yet bearing the semblance of features that she had known full well, though seldom with a smile, and never with malice in them. It was as if an evil spirit possessed the child, and had just then peeped forth in mockery. Many a time afterwards had Hester been tortured, though less vividly, by the same illusion.
一次，當海斯特象做母親的喜歡做的那樣，在孩子的眼睛中看著自己的影象時，珠兒的眼睛巾又出現了那種不可捉摸的精靈似的目光；由于內心煩悶的婦女常常為莫名其妙的幻象所縈繞，她突然幻想著，她在珠兒的眼睛那面小鏡子中看到的不是她自己的小小的肖像，而是另外一張面孔。那張魔鬼似的面孔上堆滿惡狠狠的微笑，可是長的容貌象她極其熟悉的面孔，不過她熟悉的那面容很少有笑臉，更從來不會是惡狠狠的。剛才就象有一個邪惡精靈附在了孩子身上，并且探出頭來嘲弄地望著她。事后，海絲特曾多次受到同一幻覺的折磨，不過那幻覺沒有那么活生生地強烈了。