Without more
words, he threw his companion the maple stick,
and was as speedily out of sight as if he
had vanished into the deepening gloom. The
young man sat a few moments by the roadside,
applauding himself greatly, and thinking
with how clear a conscience he should meet
the minister in his morning walk, nor shrink
from the eye of good old Deacon Gookin. And
what calm sleep would be his that very night,
which was to have been spent so wickedly,
but so purely and sweetly now, in the arms
of Faith! Amidst these pleasant and praiseworthy
meditations, Goodman Brown heard the tramp
of horses along the road, and deemed it advisable
to conceal himself within the verge of the
forest, conscious of the guilty purpose that
had brought him thither, though now so happily
turned from it.
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