As the Reverend Dimmesdale passes Hester in the Election Day procession, she feels a sudden gloom come over her and gets the sense that he is "utterly beyond her reach." Hester feels very isolated and far away from him, despite their earlier conversation in the woods and subsequent plan to run away together, and so she hopes for "One glance of recognition [...]" from him to her. She needs for him to look at her now, as if to confirm that all that passed between them in the forest was not a dream. However, he marches proudly past and does not seem to notice her, and she feels as though "She hardly knew him now" despite their once quite intimate knowledge of one another. Hester imagines that "there could be no real bond betwixt the clergyman and herself." Such feelings seem to foreshadow that their hopeful plans will not come to fruition.
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