In "The Scarlet Letter," chapters 11 and 12, what does Pearl ask Reverend Dimmesdale?

In ,goes to the scaffold
because his guilt has
begun to overwhelm him and he hopes that there might be "a moment's
peace" to
be found there, in his proper place: the place of public shame, the "guilty

platform." He sees a few others in the darkness, but none see him until he meets withand
.
Dimmesdale asks them to come up and stand with him on the scaffold, and,
holding hands, the
"three formed an electric chain." However, when Pearl asks
Dimmesdale, "Wilt thou
stand here with mother and me, to-morrow noontide?" he
says that he will not. He refuses
this child, his own child, the opportunity
to know him and for the community to know that he is
her father, because he
is too afraid. She tries to pull away from him, appearing to somehow

recognize his hypocrisy, but he will not let her go. She asks again, "But wilt thou
promise
. . . to take my hand, and mother's hand, to-morrow noontide?" Again,
he refuses her,
telling her he will only stand with them "At the great
judgment day." In other words,
not until Dimmesdale dies does he intend to
acknowledge Pearl for his own. This can hardly
comfort the
child.