Chapter Twenty-Four: Summary, Key Moments, and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The chapter opens on the morning of Charlotte's wedding at East Meeting House. Isobel squeezes into a standing space against the wall, watching as Nat enters with his sister on his arm and walks to the family pew without looking her way. She feels a stab of sorrow that he has not acknowledged her. At ten o'clock, Mrs. Silas enters on the arm of a gentleman, and the groom appears beside the minister—a tall man with red hair and a square jaw, smiling rather than nervous. When Charlotte enters on the captain's arm, there is a rustle of dresses and gasps from the ladies. Isobel, who made the dress and adjusted the bustle and netting, finds her eyes misting at the sight of Charlotte's radiance.

Isobel does not hear the ceremony; she watches Nat from behind, noting how he keeps himself erect between his sister and his uncle Robert Manning. She recalls what she saw beside the graveyard two days earlier and understands that something must have happened since he last came to her. As he leaves the church, his head is low and his eyes are lidded. Isobel wills him to look up, but he does not raise his eyes, and she feels she will die of shame and heartbreak.

The bride and groom lead a joyful procession to the Silas home, where two long tables hold a luncheon of poached fishes and a roasted pig prepared by Mr. Remond. In the crush of people, Isobel does not spy Nat or his family, but she finds Nell at the table cutting and boxing wedding cake. Nell wears a silver band and tells Isobel that Mrs. Silas insists they take a wedding trip to Newport. Isobel watches Charlotte and her husband from afar, noticing the way he keeps his hand atop hers and seems to shield her body from the crowd. The shawl Isobel made keeps Charlotte's figure disguised, hiding her full abdomen. Isobel reflects that Charlotte is the cherished daughter of a captain who has always been loved, and wonders whether slaving money that enabled this life makes Charlotte's love less true. She cannot wish Charlotte ill, and she wants to believe that anything is possible.

After the well-wishers depart, Isobel sees Nat walk away with a sister on either arm and leaves in the opposite direction, fighting back tears. As she passes through the main square, a rough man with a gun at his waist comes out of Mr. Crombie's tavern and spits onto the street. Isobel recognizes the type from the wharves, and when she glances around, she spots Zeke at the edge of the square with a hardened face. She realizes the rough man must be the slave catcher.

Widow Higgins appears at her shoulder and startles her. The widow warns Isobel to stay away from Nathaniel Hathorne, saying she saw Isobel gazing at him in the church. She mentions cruelty in his family and assures Isobel that her infatuation is safe. She also reminds Isobel that her husband's ship will return soon and that Edward must bring the next payment for the rent. Isobel does not tell her that Edward will not be returning.

That evening, Isobel sews one of the scrimshaw buttons onto a bit of brown sackcloth, but it looks like a grave in the mud, so she tears it out. She finds the scrap of fine wool she cut from Nat's torn jacket on the night he came to her and sews the button firmly upon it. As daylight fades, she walks to the rock where they first sat together and tucks the cloth into the space where he left the rose.

Hours later, Nat arrives at her door. He tells her his uncle and he are leaving for New Haven in the morning, possibly for three weeks or more, through the end of August if they go on to New York or Philadelphia. He says he dreads their goodbye and thinks it best if he is gone when Edward's ship returns. Isobel pulls gently out of his arms and tells him she had a letter from the captain saying Edward may not be on the ship. Nat asks why she did not tell him sooner, and she explains she did not know what would happen.

Nat reveals that Edward went about the city taking investments for something he called the elixir of life, approaching even Nat's uncle Robert with a proposition. Nat scoffs at the alchemy as nonsense. Isobel tries to defend Edward's knowledge of herbs and medicines, but Nat dismisses her, saying the apothecary on the next block gave Edward money, as did a few others. Isobel realizes that if Edward does not return, everyone who invested will be her creditors.

Nat tells her she is fortunate to have her skill and that the ladies in Philadelphia have already bought her work. He suggests she put her name to her work, as she has urged him to do. When Isobel asks if he would come to Philadelphia if she went, he shakes his head, saying she is another man's wife. She protests that the Philadelphia ladies do not know she has a husband, but Nat insists he has a name—one of Salem's first and finest—and without it he would be nothing. He speaks of their passion as consecrated in Salem, needing no notice or approval of society.

Nat accuses Isobel of being an enchantress, saying he found the scarlet letter she stitched inside his jacket pocket and the whirled pieces of her hair in his vest. He claims she sewed temptation and temptation arrived. Isobel blurts out that her bleeding is late, that there may be a child. Nat stiffens and insists there is no child, saying he has watched her and she is wise in these ways. When she repeats that her bleeding is late, he shakes his head, saying everything is upon him and it is his obligation to make the Hathorne name great again.

Isobel reminds him she saw him in the graveyard with blood on his shirt, kicking at a tombstone with his family name etched in it. Nat says she has seen the Devil in him, what the curse has done to him. She tells him she does not mind it and can soothe it, but he says he cannot be soothed and does not want to be soothed—to take away the anguish would be to take away everything he wants to put down on paper. He nearly shouts that his family has educated him at great expense and it does not have to make sense to her.

Isobel tells him this is their child, and if Edward does not return she will be free after a time to marry again. She pleads that they can go someplace where no one has heard of Edward Gamble or John Hathorne. Nat says he would lose everything if he left, and that the shame and weight of a lifetime would kill him. When she asks if he will not help her, he pulls away and accuses her of bewitching him with her red hair, herbs, and stories of her ancestress. He says he cannot give up his name for that. When she protests that she is not a witch, he steps back into the yard, saying he found the red letter she sewed into his coat, the same one she left by the boulder. He tells her he will not be trapped by her and must have time to think, then disappears into the dark.

The chapter shifts to Scotland in 1815. Margaret MacAllister gives her five-year-old daughter Isobel a needle, thread, and linen for her first sampler. Margaret is irritable and exhausted, nursing the baby Jamie, but Isobel is loving, obedient, and attentive, mimicking her mother's every move. Margaret recalls her own aunt Eilidh, who taught her to stitch at the same age. Aunt Eilidh was always singing and brightly dressed, making up songs about colors—the wind is pink, the river sighs blue, the sound of chickens is a purple thread. Margaret remembers when Eilidh went from singing to screaming, and her uncle Graeme tied the woman's hands behind her back and put her in the carriage kicking and shrieking, promising to bring her home better than before from Dr. Cotton's asylum in St. Albans. But Aunt Eilidh never came home, and Margaret learned that it is better to lie and hide away your truth than to be taken away in a cart kicking and shrieking.

When Margaret finally goes to see how Isobel's work has come along, her heart stops at the sight of a red letter A and a blue letter B stitched by the child. She whispers, asking what Isobel has done and what it is that she sees.

Key Events

Charlotte marries a tall, red-haired man at East Meeting House; Isobel watches from the back as Nat ignores her.
Nell reveals she has married and will take a wedding trip to Newport.
Isobel spots a rough man with a gun near the tavern and sees Zeke watching; she realizes it is the slave catcher.
Widow Higgins warns Isobel to stay away from Nathaniel Hathorne.
Isobel leaves a cloth with a scrimshaw button at the rock where she and Nat once sat.
Nat arrives, announces his departure for New Haven, and learns Edward may not return.
Isobel reveals her bleeding is late; Nat accuses her of bewitching him and refuses to help.
The chapter flashes back to Scotland in 1815, where five-year-old Isobel stitches a red letter A and a blue letter B.

Character Development

Isobel reaches a breaking point in this chapter. She has been patient, hopeful, and devoted to Nat, but his refusal to acknowledge her at the wedding and his later accusations force her to confront the reality of their situation. Her decision to reveal her late bleeding is a desperate act of vulnerability, and his rejection leaves her isolated. The flashback to her childhood reveals the origin of her synesthetic perception of colors and the family history of hiding one's truth to avoid being taken away.

Nat shows his true priorities. He values his family name above all else, even when faced with the possibility of a child. His accusation that Isobel bewitched him mirrors the historical accusations of witchcraft that haunt the Hathorne name, and his insistence that he cannot be soothed reveals a man who defines himself by his anguish.

Margaret MacAllister is introduced as a mother who has learned to hide her truth after watching her aunt Eilidh be taken away to an asylum. Her fear at Isobel's stitching suggests she recognizes something dangerous in her daughter's perception.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

The scarlet letter: Isobel's stitching of the red letter A—both in Nat's jacket and in the childhood flashback—foreshadows the novel's central symbol of shame and hidden truth.
Bewitchment accusations: Nat's claim that Isobel bewitched him with her red hair and herbs echoes the historical witchcraft trials and the Hathorne family's legacy.
Family name and legacy: Nat's refusal to give up his name, even for a child, shows how the weight of ancestry shapes his choices.
Needlework as power: Isobel's sewing is both her livelihood and her means of expression, but it also becomes evidence against her in Nat's accusations.
Hiding one's truth: Margaret's lesson that it is better to lie than to be taken away in a cart shapes Isobel's understanding of survival.
Pregnancy and abandonment: Isobel's revelation of her late bleeding and Nat's refusal to help highlight her vulnerability and isolation.
Madness and institutionalization: The story of Aunt Eilidh's removal to Dr. Cotton's asylum introduces the threat of being labeled mad for seeing the world differently.

Why This Chapter Matters

This chapter is a turning point in the novel. It marks the end of Isobel's hope that Nat will choose her over his family name, and it sets up the central conflict of the story: a woman alone, possibly pregnant, with a husband who may not return and a lover who has accused her of witchcraft. The flashback to Scotland provides crucial backstory, explaining Isobel's synesthesia and the family history of hiding one's truth. The red letter A stitched by five-year-old Isobel connects her childhood to the novel's title and the scarlet letter motif that will define her fate.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Nat refuse to help Isobel when she reveals her bleeding is late?

Nat refuses because he believes his family name is his identity and his obligation to restore the Hathorne name outweighs any personal attachment. He also accuses Isobel of bewitching him, framing their relationship as something she conjured rather than something he chose. His fear of losing everything—his name, his standing, his sense of self—makes him unable to accept the responsibility of a child.

2. What does the flashback to Scotland reveal about Isobel's childhood and her perception of colors?

The flashback reveals that Isobel's synesthesia is inherited from her great-aunt Eilidh, who sang about colors in the wind and the river. It also shows that Eilidh was taken away to an asylum for her differences, teaching Margaret—and by extension Isobel—that it is safer to hide one's truth than to be labeled mad. The red letter A and blue letter B that young Isobel stitches suggest her perception of colors is tied to letters and words from a very young age.

3. How does the wedding scene contrast with Isobel's own situation?

Charlotte's wedding is a public celebration of love and family, with a groom who adores her and a community that honors her. Isobel watches from the margins, her relationship with Nat hidden and unacknowledged. Charlotte's radiance and the belief that love is her due stand in stark contrast to Isobel's secret affair, her absent husband, and her fear of being exposed. The contrast underscores the social gulf between them and the precariousness of Isobel's position.