Hawthorne_The_House_of_the_Seven_Gables.txt topic ['13', '324', '378', '393']
condition of whatever comfort he might expect lay in
the calm of forgetfulness. such wrong as he had suffered,
there is no reparation. pitiable mockery of it, which the
world might have been ready enough to offer, coming so long after
the agony had done its utmost work, would have been fit only to
provoke bitterer laughter than poor was ever capable of.
is a truth (and it would be a very sad one but for the higher
hopes which it suggests) that no great mistake, whether acted or
endured, in our mortal sphere, is ever really set right. ,
the continual vicissitude of circumstances, and the invariable
inopportunity of death, render it impossible. , after long
lapse of years, the right seems to be in our power, we find no niche
to set it in. better remedy is for the sufferer to pass on,
and leave what he once thought his irreparable ruin far behind him.
shock of 's death had a permanently invigorating
and ultimately beneficial effect on . strong and
ponderous man had been 's nightmare. was no free
breath to be drawn, within the sphere of so malevolent an influence.
first effect of freedom, as we have witnessed in 's aimless
flight, was a tremulous exhilaration. from it, he did not
sink into his former intellectual apathy. never, it is true,
attained to nearly the full measure of what might have been his
faculties. he recovered enough of them partially to light up
his character, to display some outline of the marvellous grace that
was abortive in it, and to make him the object of less deep,
although less melancholy interest than heretofore. was evidently
happy. we pause to give another picture of his daily life,
with all the appliances now at command to gratify his instinct for
the , the garden scenes, that seemed so sweet to him,
would look mean and trivial in comparison.
soon after their change of fortune, , , and
little , with the approval of the artist, concluded to remove
from the dismal old of the , and take up their
abode, for the present, at the elegant country-seat of the late
. and his family had already been
transported thither, where the two hens had forthwith begun an
indefatigable process of egg-laying, with an evident design, as a
matter of duty and conscience, to continue their illustrious breed
under better auspices than for a century past. the day set for
their departure, the principal personages of our story, including
good , were assembled in the parlor.
" country-house is certainly a very fine one, so far as the
plan goes," observed , as the party were discussing their
future arrangements. " wonder that the late --being so
opulent, and with a reasonable prospect of transmitting his wealth
to descendants of his own--should not have felt the propriety of
embodying so excellent a piece of domestic architecture in stone,
rather than in wood. , every generation of the family might
have altered the interior, to suit its own taste and convenience;
while the exterior, through the lapse of years, might have been
adding venerableness to its original beauty, and thus giving that
impression of permanence which consider essential to the
happiness of any one moment."
"," cried , gazing into the artist's face with infinite
amazement, "how wonderfully your ideas are changed! house of
stone, indeed! is but two or three weeks ago that you seemed
to wish people to live in something as fragile and temporary as
a bird's-nest!"
", , told you how it would be!" said the artist, with
a half-melancholy laugh. " find me a conservative already!
did think ever to become one. is especially
unpardonable in this dwelling of so much hereditary misfortune,
and under the eye of yonder portrait of a model conservative,
who, in that very character, rendered himself so long the evil
destiny of his race."
" picture!" said , seeming to shrink from its stern
glance. " look at it, there is an old dreamy recollection
haunting me, but keeping just beyond the grasp of my mind. ,
it seems to say! --boundless wealth!--unimaginable wealth! could
fancy that, when was a child, or a youth, that portrait had spoken,
and told me a rich secret, or had held forth its hand, with the
written record of hidden opulence. those old matters are so dim
with me, nowadays! could this dream have been?"
" can recall it," answered . "! are a
hundred chances to one that no person, unacquainted with the
secret, would ever touch this spring."
" secret spring!" cried . ", remember ! did
discover it, one summer afternoon, when was idling and
dreaming about the house, long, long ago. the mystery
escapes me."
artist put his finger on the contrivance to which he had
referred. former days, the effect would probably have been to
cause the picture to start forward. , in so long a period of
concealment, the machinery had been eaten through with rust; so that
at 's pressure, the portrait, frame and all, tumbled suddenly
from its position, and lay face downward on the floor. recess in
the wall was thus brought to light, in which lay an object so covered
with a century's dust that it could not immediately be recognized as
a folded sheet of parchment. opened it, and displayed an
ancient deed, signed with the hieroglyphics of several
sagamores, and conveying to and his heirs, forever,
a vast extent of territory at the .
" is the very parchment, the attempt to recover which cost
the beautiful her happiness and life," said the
artist, alluding to his legend. " is what the sought
in vain, while it was valuable; and now that they find the
treasure, it has long been worthless."
" ! is what deceived him," exclaimed
. " they were young together, probably
made a kind of fairy-tale of this discovery. was always
dreaming hither and thither about the house, and lighting up its
dark corners with beautiful stories. poor , who took
hold of everything as if it were real, thought my brother had
found out his uncle's wealth. died with this delusion in his
mind!"
"," said , apart to , "how came you to know
the secret?"
" dearest ," said , "how will it please you to
assume the name of ? for the secret, it is the only
inheritance that has come down to me from my ancestors.
should have known sooner (only that was afraid of frightening
you away) that, in this long drama of wrong and retribution,
represent the old wizard, and am probably as much a wizard
as ever he was. son of the executed , while
building this house, took the opportunity to construct that recess,
and hide away the deed, on which depended the immense
land-claim of the . they bartered their eastern
territory for 's garden-ground."
" now" said " suppose their whole claim is not
worth one man's share in my farm yonder!"
" ," cried , taking the patched philosopher's
hand, "you must never talk any more about your farm! shall
never go there, as long as you live! is a cottage in our
new garden,--the prettiest little yellowish-brown cottage you
ever saw; and the sweetest-looking place, for it looks just as
if it were made of gingerbread,--and we are going to fit it up
and furnish it, on purpose for you. you shall do nothing
but what you choose, and shall be as happy as the day is long,
and shall keep in spirits with the wisdom and
pleasantness which is always dropping from your lips!"
"! my dear child," quoth good , quite overcome,
"if you were to speak to a young man as you do to an old one,
his chance of keeping his heart another minute would not be
worth one of the buttons on my waistcoat! --soul alive!--that
great sigh, which you made me heave, has burst off the very last
of them! , never mind! was the happiest sigh ever did
heave; and it seems as if must have drawn in a gulp of heavenly
breath, to make it with. , well, ! 'll miss
me in the gardens hereabouts, and round by the back doors;
and , 'm afraid, will hardly look the same
without old , who remembers it with a mowing
field on one side, and the garden of the on the
other. either must go to your country-seat, or you must
come to my farm,--that's one of two things certain; and leave
you to choose which!"
", come with us, by all means, !" said ,
who had a remarkable enjoyment of the old man's mellow, quiet,
and simple spirit. " want you always to be within five minutes,
saunter of my chair. are the only philosopher ever knew
of whose wisdom has not a drop of bitter essence at the bottom!"
" me!" cried , beginning partly to realize what
manner of man he was. " yet folks used to set me down
among the simple ones, in my younger days! suppose am
like a russet,--a great deal the better, the longer can
be kept. ; and my words of wisdom, that you and tell
me of, are like the golden dandelions, which never grow in the
hot months, but may be seen glistening among the withered
grass, and under the dry leaves, sometimes as late as .
you are welcome, friends, to my mess of dandelions, if there
were twice as many!"
plain, but handsome, dark-green barouche had now drawn up in
front of the ruinous portal of the old mansion-house. party
came forth, and (with the exception of good , who was
to follow in a few days) proceeded to take their places.
were chatting and laughing very pleasantly together; and--as proves
to be often the case, at moments when we ought to palpitate with
sensibility-- and bade a final farewell to the
abode of their forefathers, with hardly more emotion than if they
had made it their arrangement to return thither at tea-time.
children were drawn to the spot by so unusual a spectacle
as the barouche and pair of gray horses. little
among them, put her hand into her pocket,
and presented the urchin, her earliest and staunchest customer,
with silver enough to people the cavern of his interior
with as various a procession of quadrupeds as passed into the ark.
men were passing, just as the barouche drove off.
", ," said one of them, "what do you think of this?
wife kept a cent-shop three months, and lost five dollars on her
outlay. has been in trade just about as long,
and rides off in her carriage with a couple of hundred thousand,
--reckoning her share, and 's, and 's,--and some
say twice as much! you choose to call it luck, it is all very
well; but if we are to take it as the will of , why,
can't exactly fathom it!"
" good business!" quoth the sagacious ,--"pretty good business!"
's well, all this time, though left in solitude, was throwing
up a succession of kaleidoscopic pictures, in which a gifted eye
might have seen foreshadowed the coming fortunes of and
, and the descendant of the legendary wizard, and the
village maiden, over whom he had thrown 's web of sorcery.
, moreover, with what foliage the gale
had spared to it, whispered unintelligible prophecies. wise
, passing slowly from the ruinous porch, seemed to
hear a strain of music, and fancied that sweet --after
witnessing these deeds, this bygone woe and this present happiness,
of her kindred mortals--had given one farewell touch of a spirit's
joy upon her harpsichord, as she floated heavenward from the
!