Nathaniel Hawthorne

Mosses from an Old Manse, and Other Stories Nathaniel Hawthorne

In the latter part of the last century there lived a man of science, an eminent proficient inevery branch of natural philosophy, who not long before our story opens had made experienceof a spiritual affinity more attractive than any chemical one. He had left his laboratory to thecare of an assistant, cleared his fine countenance from the furnace smoke, washed the stain ofacids from his fingers, and persuaded a beautiful woman to become his wife. In those dayswhen the comparatively recent discovery of electricity and other kindred mysteries of Natureseemed to open paths into the region of miracle, it was not unusual for the love of science torival the love of woman in its depth and absorbing energy.