Perhaps his first collection of stories, "Twice-Told Tales", was printed in scarlet letters?
Stories by 
Nathaniel Hawthorne - Twice-Told Tales is a short story collection in ..... perhaps 
his best short stories, and later came classic novels like "The Scarlet .... Indie 
Print Publishing [DOC] [TLE] Twice-Told Tales by Nathaniel Hawthorne  Reviews, Discussion ... [PAR] Many of his stories are set in Massachusetts or Boston in 19th century, of course.