The House of the Seven Gables

"Perhaps, sir, I had better call my cousin Hepzibah," said Phoebe;

hardly knowing, however, whether she ought to obstruct the entrance of

so affectionate a kinsman into the private regions of the house. "Her

brother seemed to be just falling asleep after breakfast; and I am sure

she would not like him to be disturbed. Pray, sir, let me give her

notice!"

But the Judge showed a singular determination to enter unannounced; and

as Phoebe, with the vivacity of a person whose movements unconsciously

answer to her thoughts, had stepped towards the door, he used little or

no ceremony in putting her aside.

"No, no, Miss Phoebe!" said Judge Pyncheon in a voice as deep as a

thunder-growl, and with a frown as black as the cloud whence it issues.

"Stay you here! I know the house, and know my cousin Hepzibah, and know

her brother Clifford likewise.--nor need my little country cousin put

herself to the trouble of announcing me!"--in these latter words, by

the bye, there were symptoms of a change from his sudden harshness into

his previous benignity of manner. "I am at home here, Phoebe, you must

recollect, and you are the stranger. I will just step in, therefore,

and see for myself how Clifford is, and assure him and Hepzibah of my

kindly feelings and best wishes. It is right, at this juncture, that

they should both hear from my own lips how much I desire to serve them.

Ha! here is Hepzibah herself!"

Such was the case. The vibrations of the Judge's voice had reached the

old gentlewoman in the parlor, where she sat, with face averted,

waiting on her brother's slumber. She now issued forth, as would

appear, to defend the entrance, looking, we must needs say, amazingly

like the dragon which, in fairy tales, is wont to be the guardian over

an enchanted beauty. The habitual scowl of her brow was undeniably too

fierce, at this moment, to pass itself off on the innocent score of

near-sightedness; and it was bent on Judge Pyncheon in a way that

seemed to confound, if not alarm him, so inadequately had he estimated

the moral force of a deeply grounded antipathy. She made a repelling

gesture with her hand, and stood a perfect picture of prohibition, at

full length, in the dark frame of the doorway. But we must betray

Hepzibah's secret, and confess that the native timorousness of her

character even now developed itself in a quick tremor, which, to her

own perception, set each of her joints at variance with its fellows.

Possibly, the Judge was aware how little true hardihood lay behind

Hepzibah's formidable front. At any rate, being a gentleman of steady

nerves, he soon recovered himself, and failed not to approach his

cousin with outstretched hand; adopting the sensible precaution,

however, to cover his advance with a smile, so broad and sultry, that,

had it been only half as warm as it looked, a trellis of grapes might

at once have turned purple under its summer-like exposure. It may have

been his purpose, indeed, to melt poor Hepzibah on the spot, as if she

were a figure of yellow wax.