TSL

"No man, for any considerable period, can wear one face to himself, and another to the multitude, without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true" (194).

This is true in Dimmesdale's case. As he is leaving the forest where he had spoken to Hester, the thoughts in his head change so dramatically that he gets excited like a schoolboy running home from the last day of school before summer. His temptations grow and change as he passes by different people. He believes he has signed the book of the devil in the woods. He even thinks to himself, "'I have then sold myself... to the fiend whom, if men say true, this yellow-starched and velveted old hag has chosen for her prince and master!'" (199).

"'Why, know you not... that this physician here- Chillingworth, he calls himself- is minded to try my cabin-fair with you? Ay, ay, you must have known it; for he tells me he is of your party, and a close friend to the gentleman you spoke of,- he that is in peril from these sour old Puritan rulers!" (210).

Chillingworth is so smart! He knew, just by Dimmesdale's face, that Dimmesdale was aware they were enemies. And, he then deducted that Hester, Pearl, and the minister would be leaving on the Spanish boat! His intuitive and deductive abilities are astounding. I did not suspect Chillingworth would let Dimmesdale off easily, but I also did not believe he would be so smart!