Both Uses

taint
in
The Scarlet Letter
(Edited)

Here, there was the taint of deepest sin in the most sacred quality of human life, working such effect, that the world was only the darker for this woman's beauty, and the more lost for the infant that she had borne.
p. 53.8 *

taint = contamination
In the little chaos of Pearl's character there might be seen emerging and could have been from the very first—the steadfast principles of an unflinching courage—an uncontrollable will—sturdy pride, which might be disciplined into self-respect—and a bitter scorn of many things which, when examined, might be found to have the taint of falsehood in them.
p. 166.9

Definitions:

(1) (taint)
to spoil something so it is not desirable -- as when bacteria contaminates a food; or as when a rumor makes people distrust a person
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
Much more rarely, taint is used in a non-negative way to refer to a trace of something.