Scarlet Letter D.J. # 35 - Chapter 18: Part 1.

“Do I feel joy again?” cried he, wondering at himself. “Methought the germ of it was dead in me! O Hester, thou art my better angel! I seem to have flung myself—sick, sin-stained, and sorrow-blackened—down upon these forest-leaves, and to have risen up all made anew, and with new powers to glorify Him that hath been merciful! This is already the better life! Why did we not find it sooner?” (pg. 176 3rd paragraph) being with Hester and pearl makes him feel automatically better. the reason he is getting sick is because he is keeping what he did a secret not because he did the actual thing. being with his little family makes him feel better. It is like Hester and Pearl are his medicine.