Does Hester still love Dimmesdale? Use a quote to support your answer.

I think Hester does still love Dimmesdale if for no other reason that she has protected his identity for so long. Even as she publicly bears his private shame, she attempts to console Dimmesdale:

"You have deeply and sorely repented. Your sin is left behind you, in the days long past. Your present life is not less holy, in very truth, than it seems in people's eyes. Is there no reality in the penitence thus sealed and witnessed by good works? ch 17