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Colonel Pyncheon accuses Matthew Maule of witchcraft
Colonel Pyncheon wants to own the House of Seven Gables so he accuses Matthew Maule of witchcraft which gets him hung. This is significant because Matthew Maule "curses" the Pyncheon family and everyone thinks he is the reason for Colonel Pyncheon's sudden death.
"Old Matthew Maule, in a word, was executed for the crime of witchcraft." (pg. 9) -
Colonel Pyncheon Dies
Everyone notices Colonel Pyncheon is not greeting everyone like he should be, so an elderly man demands to see him but his servant tells them he is still in his study. After a while, they go to check on him and finds he is dead. "A little boy-the Colonel's grandchild, and the only human being that ever dared to be familiar with him-now made his way among the guest, and ran towards the seated figure; then pausing halfway, he began to shriek with terror." (pg. 12) -
Hepzibah Sets Up the Shop
Hepzibah decides she needs to open a shop to earn money because she can't be a seamstress. "This business of setting up a petty shop is almost the only resource of women, in circumstances at all similar to those of our unfortunate recluse. With her near-sightedness, and those tremulous fingers of hers, at once inflexible and delicate, she could not be a seamstress; although her sampler, of fifty years gone by, exhibited some of the most recondite specimens of ornamental needlework." (pg. 23) -
Phoebe Pyncheon Arrives to the House
Phoebe Pyncheon arrives at the house out of nowhere and no one knows who she is. Hepzibah first thinks she has mistaken the house for a different house until she learns it is Phoebe. Phoebe stays the night and ends up being a real help to Hepzibah. "A gentleman alighted; but it was only to offer his hand to a young girl whose slender figure, nowise needing such assistance, now lightly descended the steps, and made and airy little jump form the final one to the sidewalk" (pg. 40). -
Phoebe Tends to the Garden and Meets Mr. Holgrave
Phoebe visited the garden she saw and tended to the chickens. She also met Mr. Holgrave who is the actual person who tends to the garden. She begins to work in the garden with Mr. Holgrave to busy herself. It's significant because it is where she also sees Matthee Maule's well and is warned the water is bewitched. "The girl ran into the house to get some crumbs of bread, cold potatoes, and other such scraps as were suitable to the accommodating appetite of fowls" (pg. 51). -
Clifford Pyncheon Arrives at the House
Hepzibah is preparing food for three people instead of two and it has Phoebe confused. Eventually, Phoebe learns that it is Clifford, Hepzibah's brother who will be joining them. She finds out Clifford has just gotten out of jail. Clifford being home creates some tension with Judge Pyncheon, resulting in a bad situation. ""Hush! hush! He is coming!" whispered Hepzibah, hastily wiping her eyes" (pg. 57). -
Mr. Holgrave Reads Phoebe a Story and She Leaves
Mr. Holgrave and Phoebe are talking about the Pyncheon's history. He took the history and made a story about it which he wants to publish. He reads it to Phoebe and she listens. He tells a story of how Matthew Maule II hypnotizes Alice Pyncheon and Phoebe leaves the house soon after. "...As one method of throwing it off, I have put an incident of the Pyncheon family history, with which I happen to be acquainted, into the form of a legend, and mean to publish it in a magazine" (pg. 100). -
Judge Pyncheon Tries to See Clifford and He Dies
Judge Pyncheon demands to see Clifford; Hepzibah refuses and goes to make sure Clifford is somewhere to be found, but when she can't find him, she goes screaming for Judge Pyncheon but finds him dead in Colonel Pyncheon's chair. This is significant because everyone is going to think Clifford killed Judge Pyncheon just like he killed the man before Judge Pyncheon. "As for us Hepzibah, we can dance now!-we can sing, laugh, play, do what we will! The weight is gone, Hepzibah!" (pg. 133). -
Hepzibah and Clifford Leave on a Train
After seeing Judge Pyncheon dead, Hepzibah and Clifford decide to flee the scene before anything can be traced back to them. This causes conflict in a later chapter due to people wondering where Judge Pyncheon is. "The brother and sister departed, and left Judge Pyncheon sitting in the old home of his forefathers, all by himself..." (pg. 134). -
Phoebe Comes Back to the House, so Does Hepzibah and Clifford
Phoebe returns to the house, Mr. Holgrave enlightens her on how Judge Pyncheon was found dead and Hepzibah and Clifford fled the scene. While talking to each other, Hepzibah and Clifford return as well. Now everyone can figure out the death of Judge Pyncheon. "As her next resort, Phoebe made her way into the garden, where on so warm and bright day as the present, she had little doubt of finding Clifford, and perhaps Hepzibah also, idling away the noontide in the shadow of the arbor" (pg. 159). -
Pyncheon Family was Never Cursed, Just Had Bad Health
Once Judge Pyncheon's death was investigated, they found it was natural. This caused people to think all the Pyncheon deaths were natural, making Clifford an innocent man. "This mode of death had been an idiosyncrasy with his family, for generations past; not often occurring, indeed, but, when it does occur, usually attacking individuals about the Judge's time of life, and generally in the tension of some mental crisis, or, perhaps, in an access of wrath" (pg. 163). -
Phoebe, Mr. Holgrave, Hepzibah, and Clifford Leave the House
Phoebe, Mr. Holgrave, Hepzibah, and Clifford decide to leave the house after they felt they had been "released". When they were leaving, they weren't the only ones being released. The other Pyncheons were released from the house, even Alice Pyncheon and her harpsichord. "..seemed to hear a strain of music, and fancied that sweet Alice Pyncheon ... had given one farewell touch of a spirit's joy upon her harpsichord, as she floated heavenward from the House of Seven Gables" (pg. 172).
