In the prison, the baby is upset. We wonder why? Oh, maybe because the baby is in a PRISON.
The stranger shows up, telling everyone that he's a doctor named Roger Chillingworth.
Ooh. Is it cold in here? Did someone just open a window?
Chillingworth is left alone with Hester, we are shocked—okay, actually not that shocked—to find out that he's her long-lost husband. Cue the dramatic music.
He gives both the baby and Hester medicine to help them sleep and to take away whatever pain they feel.
Uh, Hester? Maybe you should be careful about taking something from your absentee husband who's just shown up to find out that you've been stepping out on him.
Hester thinks so, too.
No, no, Chillingworth says: he plans to keep her alive so she can keep on feeling the shame of the scarlet letter.
Nice guy.
Anyway, he's done wrong, too. Sure, Hester cheated on him, but Chillingworth should have known better than to imprison a youthful beauty like Hester in a marriage to an elderly, misshapen man.
In any case, he's going to ferret out the identity of her lover. Meanwhile, he wants her to keep his identity a secret.