Question

Which excerpt from Chapter 3 of The Scarlet Letter is the best evidence that the stranger in the marketplace wants to keep his true identity a secret?
When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips.

By the Indian’s side, and evidently sustaining a companionship with him, stood a white man, clad in a strange disarray of civilized and savage costume.

A writhing horror twisted itself across his features, like a snake gliding swiftly over them, and making one little pause, with all its wreathed intervolutions in open sight.

There was a remarkable intelligence in his features, as of a person who had so cultivated his mental part that it could not fail to mould the physical to itself, and become manifest by unmistakable tokens.

Answer 1

In my opinion, the correct answer is A. When he found the eyes of Hester Prynne fastened on his own, and saw that she appeared to recognize him, he slowly and calmly raised his finger, made a gesture with it in the air, and laid it on his lips. The other three excerpts just describe the stranger, but in this one, it is evident that Hester has recognized him, and that he signals her to keep it secret. It is her long-gone husband who has now returned and realized that his wife is accused of adultery, and has given birth to another man's child.