The House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne With an introduction by George Parsons Lathrop Contents INTRODUCTORY NOTE AUTHOR’S PREFACE I. THE OLD PYNCHEON FAMILY II. THE LITTLE SHOP-WINDOW III. THE FIRST CUSTOMER IV. A DAY BEHIND THE COUNTER V. MAY AND NOVEMBER VI. MAULE’S WELL VII. THE GUEST VIII. THE PYNCHEON OF TO-DAY IX. CLIFFORD AND PHŒBE X. THE PYNCHEON GARDEN XI. THE ARCHED WINDOW XII. THE DAGUERREOTYPIST XIII. ALICE PYNCHEON XIV. PHŒBE’S GOOD-BYE XV. THE SCOWL AND SMILE XVI. CLIFFORD’S CHAMBER XVII. THE FLIGHT OF TWO OWLS XVIII. GOVERNOR PYNCHEON XIX. ALICE’S POSIES XX. THE FLOWER OF EDEN XXI. THE DEPARTURE INTRODUCTORY NOTE THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES. In September of the year during the February of which Hawthorne had completed “The Scarlet Letter,” he began “The House of the Seven Gables.” Meanwhile, he had removed from Salem to Lenox, in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, where he occupied with his family a small red wooden house, still standing at the date of this edition, near the Stockbridge Bowl. “I sha’n’t have the new story ready by November,” he explained to his publisher, on the 1st of October, “for I am never good for anything in the literary way till after the first autumnal frost, which has somewhat such an effect on my imagination that it does on the foliage here about me—multiplying and brightening its hues.” But by vigorous application he was able to complete the new work about the middle of the January following.