海丝特不禁自问：是否由于她这方面在真诚、勇气及忠贞上本来存在着缺陷，才造成牧师被抛进凶隙横生、毫无祥兆的境地呢?

• "Hester could not but ask herself, whether there had not originally been a defect of truth, courage, and loyalty, on her own part, in allowing the minister to be thrown into a position where so much evil was to be foreboded, and nothing auspicious to be hoped."