the gray bearded sexton met him, holding up a black glove, which the minister recognized as his own. "it was found.... to cover it!" page 138, L 22
The glove that dropped from the hand of the minister and that has been FOUND on the SCAFFOLD makes the sexton say that it was impossible that such a holy person was on that scaffold, so he assigns this fact to Satan, adding that a pure "hand" doesn't need to cover anything. This makes things even worse, firt of all because the minister knows that he's not pure, and he indeed needs "a glove" to cover his hand- being sinner, and the refering to Satan might indicate malignancy of the sin itself.
or the malignancy of the minister's view of the sin. Could he have left the glove in hopes of getting caught?
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