The Scarlet Pimpernel written by Baroness Orczy. The novel is set in a village in Puritan New England. Hester believes herself a widow, but her husband, Roger Chillingworth, arrives in New England very much alive and conceals his identity The Scarlet Letter was the first, and the tendency of criticism is to pronounce it the most impressive, also, of these ampler productions. It has the charm of unconsciousness; the author did not realize while he worked, that this most prolix among the tales was alive with the miraculous vitality of genius. It combines the strength and substance of an oak with the subtle organization of a rose, and is great, not of malice aforethought, but inevitably.