ests an escape: going back to Europe. When he despairingly tells Hester that he has not the strength to venture into the world alone, Hester boldly states that she will go with him. The decision energizes both of them. Dimmesdale declares that he can feel joy again and Hester throws off the scarlet letter from her chest. Having cast off her "stigma," Hester restores her former, passionate beauty by letting down her hair and smiling. To emphasize their changed state, sunlight (which, Pearl says, stays away from her mother because it fears her scarlet letter) suddenly brightens the forest. Hester calls Pearl, who has been playing in the wilderness again, to join them. Pearl approaches slowly.Chapter 19: The Child at the Brookside Chapter 20: The Minister in a Maze Summary Hester calls to Pearl to join her and Dimmesdale. But, from the other side of the brook, Pearl eyes them warily. She refuses to come to her mother, pointing at the empty place on Hester's chest where the scarlet letter used to be. Hester has to pin the letter back on before Pearl will cross the creek. Returning to her mother's arms, Pearl kisses Hester and also kisses the scarlet letter. When Hester tries to encourage a warm relationship between Pearl and her father, Pearl asks first, "Will he go back with us, hand in hand, we three together, into the town?" Because Dimmesdale will not, when the minister kisses her on the forehead, she runs to the brook and tries to wash it off. As the minister returns to the town, he can hardly believe that he is going through such a radical change. Their plans to escape on a ship back to the Old World have almost completely turned his outlook upside-down. Tempted to announce, "I am not the man for whom you take me! I left him yonder in the forest," Dimmesdale finds things that were once familiar very strange, including himself. As a deacon walks by, he barely controls the urge to utter blasphemous statements. When he encounters ...
