The Blithedale Romance

by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Miles Coverdale, a young poet, is planning to join the Blithedale community the following day. He has come from seeing the Veiled Lady, a popular phenomenon and mesmerist. He encounters Mr. Moodie, an elderly man, who mysteriously asks about his plans and if he knows Zenobia, one of the women going to the community. Coverdale heads out on a wintry April day with Silas Foster and his wife. Zenobia enters, and he is struck by her beauty and wildness. She always wears an exotic flower in her hair.